Of Pasts and Futures
by ScarlettKate1013
Summary: Carly has been arrested for accidentally shooting her daughter, Melanie, and things could not be more grim. Only by facing the nightmare of her past, can Carly right her present and get the future she's always wanted. Lots of CarBo loving, but there are triggers for abuse, child abandonment, rape, mental illness, drug & alcohol abuse, suicide and major character death.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer – I own neither DOOL nor its characters. I only own the idea and the original characters. I began this back in the spring of 2010 as a way to fix the godawful mess that TPTB at DOOL had (IMO) created. It was originally posted at** _ **The Princess and the Sailor,**_ **a site for a small group of Bo and Carly fans. This story is very much about Bo and Carly and the life that I wanted them to have. The overall rating is M and it covers some pretty serious subject matter, none of which I take lightly, but please be warned. I don't feel that the descriptions I've given are particularly all that graphic, but I like to be upfront with people. Themes that will take place in this story include spousal abuse, rape, kidnapping, mental illness, prescription drug abuse, anger issues and suicide. This is my love song for Bo and Carly, and I'm only sharing it in the hope that it will bring happiness to someone else. Along the way, I'll be mentioning specific stores and restaurants which are not native to DOOL's Salem. These places coincide with restaurants and stores in my hometown, and I felt they would go well within Salem's city limits.**

 _Of Pasts and Futures_

 _Chapter 1_

Nicholas Alamain read carefully over the hand-written page in front of him. _It can't be true,_ he thought to himself. But it was all there; every detail, every nuance of his father's willful and malicious attempt to drive his mother to the brink of insanity, preserved forever in volume after leather-bound volume of Lawrence Alamain's journals. Nicholas could no longer deny the day-to-day hell in which his mother had existed. And as he re-read the final few lines once more, he understood immediately why she had murdered his father. In fact, he rather wished he'd killed the sadistic bastard himself.

 _Tonight, I will show Katerina the latest photograph of her illegitimate brat. After I've used her to my liking, after I've taken her over and over until she loses consciousness, I will rouse her and once again show her the girl's picture and reveal to her my final plans for her precious daughter. No longer will I suffer the humiliation that Katerina has brought to my name and my house. The girl will not live beyond tonight. She will draw her last breath while her loving mother looks on via live internet feed. Then Katerina will watch as her erstwhile lover, Daniel Jonas, suffers the same fate. Oh yes, I have at last learned the name of the man who dared touch what was mine, my wife, my Katerina, all those years ago. He will meet the same fate as his bastard offspring, all while Katerina watches. Only then will she understand once and for all that I own her, body and soul, and she cannot even exist in this world without my good pleasure. It ends tonight. It ends tonight._

"Jesus H. Christ," Nicholas muttered to himself. He certainly couldn't ignore the truth of the situation any longer. His father had been a maniac, and his poor mother had been the sole victim of Lawrence's insanity for years.

 _No more,_ he vowed to himself. She was not alone, and he was going to beg her forgiveness for his own mistreatment of her the past few years and do whatever he could to help her. He was the reason, after all, that she had stayed with his father. "Well, half the reason, at least," he mused. He'd never even known that his mother had been pregnant, much less that she had given birth to his half-sister. His mother had stayed, suffered unspeakable tortures, all to protect her two children from a monster.

Nicholas was interrupted in his thoughts when the door to his father's study burst open, and a red-headed blur tumbled into the room. Carys Mackenzie was his best friend and the only person he knew to be stubborner than himself. Of course, she wouldn't heed his warnings to leave him be while he sorted through his father's papers.

Carys was Scottish, and he suspected that had a great deal to do with said stubbornness. She clutched a newspaper to her chest, and from the way she was panting, it looked as though she'd run all the way from Edinburgh to get to him, rather than the bedroom down the hall. She crossed the room at break-neck speed and thrust the paper in his hands.

"Your mother," she began. "I know you said we weren't to speak her name in your presence, but according to the American press, she's been arrested for the attempted murder of a young nursing student. For God's sake, Nicky, will you not go to her?" Before he could respond, Carys drew herself up to her full height, all six feet of it, obviously gearing up for a fight. "Nicholas Alamain, I've held my tongue for months while you kept up this ridiculous treatment of your mother, and I will no longer remain silent. If you will not provide aid to your mother, then I'll just go to Salem and do it myself." Spinning on her heel, Carys made for the door, but Nicholas's words stopped her in her tracks.

"You're right." Carys spun around again, waist length hair whipping into her face, and stared at him dumbfounded. She opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, unable to decide what to say. Nicholas had to laugh at the sight, and when the flush crept up her face and he knew her temper was about to be unleashed, he quickly rushed to explain.

"You're right," he repeated, grabbing her hand and pulling her from the room while digging in his pocket with the other hand for his cell phone. "I'm going to my mother and you're coming with me. How fast can you pack for Salem? Never mind, we'll just buy what we need when we get there. I'm not sure how long this will take anyway." Having retrieved his phone, he punched "2" on speed dial and his pilot answered immediately.

"Ready the jet, Stuart. Miss Mackenzie and I will be arriving momentarily via helicopter." They had reached the roof of the compound where the ever-ready helicopter waited.

"Very good, Sir, and to where will be traveling?" Stuart asked in his dry British accent.

"Salem," Nicholas replied as he handed a slightly confused Carys up into the helicopter. He disconnected the call and was about to climb up himself when he remembered his father's journals. Seized by inspiration, he told the helicopter pilot to wait for him and dashed back into the compound, running all the way to his father's study. There had to be at least thirty journals, all penned in his father's handwriting. He grabbed the last one, the one he'd been reading when Carys found him, and tossed it into a box along with several others that he chose at random.

Arriving back at the helicopter pad, Nicholas thrust the box into Carys's arms and climbed in beside her. She squeezed his hand as a small smile graced her lips. He answered her smile with one of his own and looked out over the landscape of Alamania, land of his family for hundreds of years. He silently vowed that his mother would suffer no longer for the sins of his father and that he would do everything in his considerable power to right all the wrongs she had endured.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Fucking hell!" Carys exclaimed as she closed the cover on the journal Nicholas had given her. Together, they had read through the journals Nicholas had taken and pieced together the nightmare that had been Carly Manning Alamain's life for nearly twenty years. "I always thought there was something off about your father, but he was one twisted son of a bitch."

Nicholas nodded his head in agreement, guilt over his mother's suffering evident on his face. Carys naturally saw this and was having none of it. "Nicky, none of this is your fault. You can't be any help at all to your mother if you're spending half your time feeling sorry for yourself." Carys rattled the Salem newspaper in his face before continuing, "Judging from this article, your mother needs all our help and then some."

"I know, Carys, I know," Nicholas replied solemnly. He pushed his way up from his seat and proceeded to wear a path in the carpet of the plane's aisle. "But if I had only paid more attention to my parents, I might have picked up on something. I could have done _something_. I should have been able to protect her." These last words were spoken as he sank to the floor, head on his knees.

Carys shook her head, though Nicky couldn't see her motions. She knelt down next to him and took his hands in hers, never breaking eye contact. "Might have, could have, should have," she repeated. "These won't help your mother, Nicky. She's facing attempted murder charges _of her own daughter._ " Nicky had filled Carys in as best he could about his newly discovered sister, and she had taken it all in stride, bless her loyal heart, only reiterating the fact that they had to help Carly. "Coupled with this business over your father's death and it isn't looking too well for her. What you need to do is hold it together so that we can help your mother. You need to get her the best lawyer that your family's money can buy and get her out of that jail cell. Now, according to the article, bail is unlikely, but seeing as you've more money than God, I'm sure we can work something out with the court."

Nicholas smiled a bit at the passion in Carys's voice. She had always liked his mother, and he knew his recent treatment of Carly had bothered her immensely. "You've given this a lot of thought, haven't you?" he asked.

Carys shrugged her shoulders. "Well, we can't both spend this twelve-hour flight wallowing in self-pity. _One_ of us has to formulate a plan, you know."

"Excuse me, wallowing?" Nicky pushed up from the floor, pulling Carys with him. "I do not wallow."

Carys stood toe to toe with him and pinned him to the spot with a glare from her cerulean eyes. "You do wallow, it's one of your more endearing qualities, actually, but now is not the time for it. We've got to act and fast if we're going to save your mother."

"You're right," Nicky said already reaching for his phone. He quickly thumbed through his contact list until he found the name he was looking for.

"Who are you calling now?" Carys asked.

"Jack Campbell. He's the best lawyer I know. He's in New York, but he can get to Salem before we can. If anyone can help my mother, it's him. Jack, it's Nicholas Alamain. Yeah, look I'm sorry to bother you on such short notice, but I need you to get to Salem as fast as possible. I'll cover all your expenses, of course, but my mom's there and she's in a lot of trouble. She needs the best lawyer I can get for her and that's you. Right, right, yes, I know, but I've learned a lot since then, man, and it can only work to my mother's advantage. Great, thanks, Jack, and listen, when you see my mother, tell her that I'm on my way. And tell her that I'm sorry."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Carly lay flat on her back, staring up at the ceiling of her cell. She was becoming entirely too familiar with the tile pattern of that ceiling. Her mind kept wandering back to the last time she'd seen her daughter and the look in Melanie's eyes as she vehemently ordered Carly from her presence. The irony was that the look in Melanie's eyes was easily recognizable as one of Carly's own. But Carly immediately amended her thoughts and reminded herself that the woman who could have bent even the most resistant patient to her will with that glare was gone. Sometimes Carly felt as though she were gone forever.

Except for when she was in Bo's arms; as though her thoughts had willed him there, Bo was suddenly at the door to her cell. She craned her head to look at him and was surprised to see him open the cell door and slip inside. She quickly sat up to make room for him on the cot.

"Hey, Princess," Bo greeted brushing the hair back from her eyes. "How're you holding up?"

Carly cracked a sardonic smile and replied, "Well, I'm thinking of putting up some curtains to liven up the place, but other than that…I'm miserable." Carly's attempt at bravery abruptly faltered, and she crumpled in Bo's waiting arms.

Bo held her close, stroking her hair and murmuring nonsensical soothing sounds while she wept. He'd known a breakdown was coming and was just grateful that he could offer her some semblance of comfort. However, he suspected that the news he'd brought would go a lot farther in raising her spirits. Bo gently raised her head from his shoulder and placed a kiss on her forehead.

"Carly, listen there's a visitor waiting for you in my office. His name's Jack Campbell, and he's a defense attorney." At Carly's questioning glance, Bo placed a finger to her lips so he could deliver what he considered to be the best news of all. "Nicky sent him, Princess. Your son woke this guy in the middle of the night and sent him here from New York to work on your case. He also says he has a message from Nicky, but he'll only deliver it to you personally."

Carly rose from the cot and began to pace. "But Nicky hates me, Bo. Lawrence turned him against me years ago. Why on earth would he send an attorney to me?" Bo stood and took her hands.

"I don't know, but it has to mean something good. I did a little google search, and this guy, he's one of the best. He also doesn't come cheap. Now, I know what you've said about Nicky and the way he treated you after he got older, but I just don't think that he'd go to the trouble of retaining some hot-shot lawyer for you if he hadn't experienced some sort of change of heart. So what do you say, Princess? Wanna go hear this guy out at least?" Carly seemed at a loss for words so she merely nodded her head. But when Bo tried to lead her from the cell, he found himself pulling on an immovable object.

"What if it's a trick?" Carly asked in such a quietly fearful voice that Bo almost didn't catch her words. She continued, "What if it's some trick perpetrated by Victor, or worse yet, Vivian? What if…"

Carly's questions were silenced by Bo's lips covering hers. When he'd kissed her into silence, he pulled away looking into her jade eyes. He couldn't help but smirk at the way those eyes glazed over with passion roused by his kiss. He knew without a doubt that his own reflected that same passion. "I seem to recall that being the best way to shut you up when you were having a come-apart."

Carly offered him a blinding smile and stepped closer in his embrace, twining her arms around his neck. "Feel free to shut me up any time, Commissioner."

"Hold that thought, Princess. Let's go hear what your fancy-schmancy lawyer that _Nicky_ drummed up for you has to say, and as soon as you get out of this cell you and I are going to have some well-deserved alone time." Bo couldn't resist Carly's allure and once again claimed her lips with his own. They were interrupted by nervous throat-clearing and separated to find one of Bo's young sergeants, blushing to his hairline and looking thoroughly embarrassed at having caught them.

"Um, excuse me, Commissioner, but the, um, guy in y-your office wants to know when you and the prisoner, I-I mean, Dr. Manning will be joining him. What should I tell him?"

"Tell Mr. Campbell that Dr. Manning and I are on our way, Matthews." Sergeant Matthews nodded fervently, but made no move to leave. "That will be all, Matthews." The poor boy continued to stare at Carly until Bo made a run-along-now gesture with his hand that finally sent the young officer scurrying. "Now where were we?" Bo asked turning back to Carly, well-intent on picking up where they left off. Carly dodged him though and was across the cell before Bo could blink, shaking her head in warning.

"No way, Bo, it's bad enough that half of Salem thinks I'm a murdering, home-wrecking adulteress. I'm not going to be the reason that your officers lose their respect for you, too. So you just keep your hands to yourself, Sailor."

Bo only smiled at her and opened the cell door, motioning for her to go ahead in front of him. His heart nearly stopped when she turned and batted her eyelashes at him whispering, "At least until you get me home."

Jack Campbell stood as soon as Bo and Carly entered Bo's office. He stretched out his hand to Carly and smiled warmly at her. "Mrs. Alamain, a very early good morning to you. Do you remember me? I'm Jack Campbell. We met once at one of Nick's polo matches a few years ago."

Carly smiled back, shaking Jack's hand. "Of course, I remember you, Jack. I only wish we were seeing one another under better circumstances. And please call me Carly. As a matter of fact, call me anything other than Mrs. Alamain."

"I understand, Carly. You've gone back to your maiden name then. I'll make a note." He did so and shuffled some papers around, pulling one official looking document from the stack. "Now, I've made myself familiar with the facts of your case as they stand, but of course I need to hear what happened from you. Nick also tells me that he's uncovered some information he believes will be of help to us in your defense so I think we'll wait until he arrives to work on all of that. In the meantime, I've already arranged for your release, but there are a few terms we have to go over. By then Nick should be here, and we can have you out of here in time for breakfast."

"Release?" Bo and Carly both spoke at once. They glanced at each other, then back at Jack before Bo continued, "Justin Kiriakis, Carly's previous attorney, was unable to negotiate bail. Pardon my asking, but how the hell did you do it?"

"Please realize, Commissioner, the Alamains are quite well connected, and once your local judge was made aware of the fact that Nicholas Alamain was personally organizing his mother's defense, it was simple to gain her release. Here, you're welcome to review the paperwork yourself," Jack replied and handed the form over to Bo.

He sat back and watched Bo and Carly review the document carefully, heads together. Jack had picked up on the dynamic between his client and the commissioner the moment they entered the room together, and he knew that there was one particular term of Carly's release that would not sit well with either of them. From the glares he was receiving from them both, they had just discovered it.

"This says I have to stay away from Bo." Carly began calmly enough, but Bo could tell from her tone that she was heading toward a full blown fit. He took her hand in his, willing her to stay civil. This did not go unnoticed by Jack and he watched, amazed, at the transformation that went over the woman as soon as Bo took her hand. Carly took a deep, shuddering breath and started again.

"Why should I have to stay away from Bo? It-it doesn't make any sense. What, did Bo's wife get to participate in the bail hearing?"

"Actually, Carly, it makes perfect sense. From what I gleaned from my conversation with Judge Ralston's clerk – who's quite the chatterbox at 1:30 in the morning – the Mayor's office is a little upset over your relationship with Commissioner Brady as well as his behavior in regards to the charges against you. I understand you had to be threatened publicly by Mayor Carver before you would agree to arrest Carly?" Jack looked to Bo for confirmation and Bo nodded reluctantly. "Not to mention the fact that you, Commissioner Brady, are still in fact married to Detective Hope Brady and are now living with Carly. I'm sure you can see how your involvement appears to the outside world."

Unable to come up with an answer, Bo instead replied, "Why don't you drop the Commissioner part and just stick with Bo, seeing as how you know more about my personal life than I do."

"Right, it seems you two are quite the unpopular duo in Salem at the moment, hence the terms of the release. Also, according to Chatty Jill the Clerk, there's talk about launching a full-scale investigation into your involvement with Carly and how it may relate to the shooting of Melanie Layton."

"Bloody fucking hell!" Carly exclaimed, slamming her hands down on Bo's desk in frustration. Bo's hands went immediately to her shoulders, but Carly shrugged him off and began pacing the room in a manner akin to a caged lioness – a very tense, very angry caged lioness.

"Ya see, Bo, I told you this would happen! If you had any sense at all, you'd run as far away from me as you can get before I completely destroy your life, too. I told you not two days ago that I was a curse, and now I've brought all this shit down on your head, too!" Bo was up in a flash and had Carly in his arms before she could even register the fact.

"Hush, Princess, hush! Listen to me, you and I, we've been through worse. Let them investigate. I've got nothing to hide, and neither do you. Neither of us has done anything wrong, and we are not going to roll over and die because of a little scandal."

"A little scandal? Bo, for God's sake my daughter has accused me of trying to murder her, half the town thinks I broke up your marriage to Hope, and the other half wants your head on a platter for helping me. If that's your idea of a little scandal, then I certainly hope never to see what you consider a big one!"

They were in each other's faces now, and Jack was sure they were no longer aware of his presence in the room. The current between the two people in front of him was so strong that Jack half expected to get electrocuted from the by-blows. Part of his job as an attorney was reading people, and these two were an open book. The love, lust, respect and care that Bo and Carly held for each other was clear on both of their faces. They were whispering to one another now, and though Jack couldn't hear the words, their body language spoke volumes. He thought he'd better get them back on track before they forgot him completely and decided to make up on the desk.

"Excuse me," Jack said waggling his fingers in the couple's direction. "Remember me, the guy trying to save you from a prison sentence? Could we get back to work, please?" They had the good graces to at least look embarrassed and returned to their seats opposite him. Jack couldn't help but notice that even though they were no longer touching the bond between the two was so strong that it seemed as if they were.

"So back to the terms of your release. Naturally you're required to surrender your passport, you can't leave the state or the country and so on and so forth. The only other item specific to your release is that you must stay away from your daughter unless she specifically requests to see you."

Carly snorted and rolled her eyes. "Considering that she thinks I tried to _murder_ her I don't think that's going to happen."

"You never know, Carly. I've seen stranger things happen," Jack replied with a smile. Just then a knock sounded at Bo's office door and at Bo's instruction, opened to admit Sergeant Matthews and two young people, one of whom Bo immediately recognized as a grown-up Nicholas Alamain. Carly tensed beside him and to Bo it seemed as the breath went out of her when her eyes lit on her son, the son that Bo knew she had not seen in over a year. Nicky was the first to move, crossing the room, eyes never leaving his mother. She stood to her feet, unsure of what to expect, but Nicky immediately embraced her and to the astonishment of all began to weep in his mother's arms.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Bo quickly ushered Jack and the young woman who had arrived with Nicky out the door in order to give mother and son some privacy. Nicky pulled away from his mother and led her back to the desk chairs, never letting go of her hands.

"Mom, please," he begged. "Please forgive me. I'm so sorry. I had no idea what Dad did to you all these years. If I'd known, I'd never have let him hurt you."

"Nicky, sweetheart," Carly spoke through her tears. "You couldn't have known. You were only a child. And how do you know your father hurt me? What's changed your mind about me? What brought all this on?" Carly had a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach as to how Nicky had learned of her fate, but she needed to know for certain before things went any further.

"The journals, Mom. I found Dad's journals. I didn't read them all, but I read enough to know what he did to you. I know how he took your daughter from you, how he kept you under lock and key for years, how he…hurt you." Nicky looked away, unable to meet his mother's gaze.

"Oh, sweetheart. I'm so glad you're here now, but I would give anything if I could've kept you from reading those words. I've tried for years to protect my children and I've failed both you and your sister."

Nicky shook his head. "No, Mom, I needed to know the truth, and if I have anything to say about it, Melanie will, too. She needs to know what you sacrificed so that she could live. She needs to understand the monster you were protecting her from, that you protected me from. All those years and you never said anything. You never let on that you were being taken apart physically and emotionally. You knew that Dad was trying to turn me against you, and yet you kept silent, never letting on how you were suffering. You were so strong, Mom, but you don't have to be strong any more. Let me be strong for you, let me help you."

Carly's tears flowed anew at her son's impassioned plea. For the first time in months, she felt hope. If Nicky could be restored to her, then she was beginning to believe that Melanie could as well. She tenderly stroked Nicky's cheek, wiping his tears away, just as she'd done when he'd been a young boy. "You've already helped me so much, Nicky. Just you being here gives me hope that no matter what happens, I can face it."

"Nothing is going to happen to you," Nicky insisted. "I'm going to get through to my sister. We're going to get these charges dropped, and then you and I and Melanie are going to spend some time together. You can even bring Bo if you want," Nicky added with a smirk that resembled his mother's all too well.

Carly let the remark slide in favor of imparting what seemed to her as logic. "That's a nice dream, sweetheart, but the reality of the situation is very different. Melanie hates me, and with good reason. So does Daniel. Hell, pretty much everyone in this town save Bo hates me."

"Wait a minute," Nicky interjected. "Daniel? Do you mean Daniel Jonas, as in Melanie's father, Daniel Jonas?"

Carly looked puzzled. "That's him. Wait, how did you know Daniel was Melanie's father? Oh, Christ, please don't tell me it's gotten into the papers. Daniel's gonna kill me. He made me promise not to tell anyone, and Bo is the only one I told! Well, except for Chloe, but Daniel knows about that, and it isn't as though she'd go blabbing to the papers. Oh, God, he's gonna kill me! Melanie doesn't know yet and now she's gonna find out from some newspaper article and…"

Nicky grabbed his mother's flailing hands and marveled at her ability to babble like the proverbial brook. "No, Mom, no. There's no article. Relax, please. No one knows except for you, me, Bo, Daniel and this Chloe person. Calm down, all right? I found out because Dad knew, and he wrote about it in his journal. It was his last entry before he…died." Nicky seemed a little unsure as to how to phrase his father's demise.

"It's okay, Nicky," Carly said sensing her son's unease. "I…killed your father. I understand that must hurt you, and if there'd been another way out I would have taken it. I regret the necessity of it, but I'd do it again to protect you and your sister."

"That's just it, Mom. After learning what Dad did to you and the way he manipulated me to turn me against you, _my_ only regret is that I didn't kill the bastard myself."

"Baby, no! Don't say that, please!" Carly begged. "Let my sins be mine. Don't take them on yourself."

"But, Mom, the things that he did to you; I can't even bear to think about them without wanting him to suffer as much as he caused you to!"

"I survived, Nicky. You and your sister both survived. That's all that matters. Now will you please tell me what your father wrote about Daniel? It could be important."

Nicky was able to quote his father's last journal entry _ver batim_ to his mother. He feared that it along with several others was burned indelibly into his brain for all eternity. When he finished his mother had paled considerably and her hands trembled in his grasp. "Mom, are you all right?"

Carly nodded her head briefly and asked, "Did you bring the journals with you, Nicky?"

"Yes. I thought they would help in your defense."

"Good, good." Carly's mind was already racing a mile a minute, processing what this new development could mean for her relationships with Daniel and their daughter.

"Can you get Bo for me, sweetheart? And find out from Jack if I can go yet?"

"Of course. I've already rented a house for us. It's on the outskirts of town so it's secluded. It should give us plenty of privacy while we sort through everything. I'll get Bo, and we'll have you out of here in no time." Nicky exited though the office door and in less than thirty seconds, Bo took his place.

He gathered Carly in his arms and dropped a kiss on the top of her head. He thought she was weeping again, but he quickly realized she was laughing. More than a little concerned, he pulled away so that he could look in her eyes. The normal jade color seemed to Bo to be as bright as emeralds with joy despite the tear tracks he could make out on her cheeks.

"You haven't gone completely around the bend on me have you, Princess?" he asked with a smile.

Carly shook her head, her answering smile nearly blinding him with its brilliance. "I've got my son back, Bo. And maybe, just maybe, I can get my daughter back, too."

"We will, Princess," Bo assured her. "The girl who came with Nicky," Bo began only to be interrupted by Carly.

"You mean Carys? She's been Nicky's best friend since they were freshmen in high school."

"She spoke very highly of you, by the way," Bo continued. "But she also told Jack and me about some journals of Larry's that Nicky discovered. She and Nicky seem to think they can go a long way towards clearing you. Do you know what's in them?"

"A bit, but I don't want to get into it now. We only have a few more minutes before I'm not supposed to come within five miles of you or whatever the ridiculous terms of my bail state. There are other things I'd rather be doing." Carly's voice dropped an octave and subsequently Bo's libido shot through the roof. Standing on her toes, she covered his mouth with hers, and he lost the ability to think about anything other than the beautiful woman in his arms.

Bo lifted her to his desk and Carly's legs twined around his waist, their hands roaming each other's flesh, already trying to discard clothing. Some cognitive part of Bo's brain finally registered the fact that at least fifteen people, one being Carly's son, were all standing on the other side of the paper-thin wall waiting for them. He detached himself from her with a groan and began pulling her shirt back in place. The pout she gave him was nearly his undoing, but he kept his resolve while he righted his own clothing.

Reaching for her hand Bo helped her from the desk and led her to the door. Her hair was a mess, her lips were swollen from his kisses and God knew he could use a cold shower. At present, he was trying to picture his high school football coach, Coach Morrison, naked. There, he could at least leave the room without embarrassing himself. He tucked an errant strand of hair behind Carly's ear and swiped his thumb across her full bottom lip. Just before he opened the door to turn her over to her son and begin their court-enforced "separation," Bo leaned over and whispered in her ear, "I know the layout of the house Nicky rented. Take the bedroom at the back of the wing that's closest to the woods. And sleep with the window open."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Are you kidding me?" Melanie exclaimed while rattling the newspaper in Phillip's face. Having just presented said paper to his wife, Phillip now thought better of his decision and wished he'd thought of a more suitable way of telling Mel that her mother had made bail.

Melanie was now trying to get out of bed and wincing with every move. She was also swatting away Phillip's attempts to force her back into bed. Fortunately, Phillip was spared further abuse by the arrival of his newly discovered father-in-law, Dr. Daniel Jonas. Daniel had finally confessed the night before to Melanie that he'd known for a while he was her father. Mel, who'd been very happy to learn Daniel's secret, had only blamed her mother for trying to ruin her life further by denying Melanie the knowledge of her father.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" Daniel asked his daughter. He placed his hands on her shoulders and gently but forcibly eased Melanie back into bed. Melanie allowed herself to be handled, but fixed her father with a glare so reminiscent of her mother that Daniel nearly gasped.

Each time he looked at Melanie, it seemed that he discovered some new way in which she resembled either Carly or himself, both physically and otherwise. He kept his comments to himself regarding any similarities between Mel and Carly, having already learned that any such remarks would earn the speaker a quick dismissal from Melanie's presence.

"Now tell me what has you so riled up that you're ready to use the express checkout?"

"This," Melanie replied handing the newspaper to her father.

"Sweetheart, I'm sorry," Daniel said. "I wanted to tell you myself. That's why I came in early. What idiot brought this to you anyway?"

Melanie waived a hand in Phillip's direction who confessed, "That would be me." When Daniel glowered at him, Phillip stammered, "What? She had a right to know that Carly was out of jail."

"Yes, and don't you think you could have just told her rather than waiving a headline under her nose?" Daniel countered. He had risen to his feet, and he and Phillip were practically nose to nose in their skirmish over Melanie.

"Oh, I get it," Phillip scoffed. "You wanted to be the one to tell Mel yourself, try and score some points in the daddy department, and you're pissed that she already heard the news from me, _her husband._ " Phillip practically shouted the last two words.

Melanie, growing weary of her husband and her father discussing her as if she weren't in the room, took matters into her hands. Though she would have preferred getting out of bed and throttling the two men, she settled for the next best thing, rolling up the discarded newspaper and chucking it at both of them. This having the desired effect of returning their attention to her, Melanie smiled beatifically at them and asked, "If you're finished marking your territory, would _one_ of you please give me the back story on how my egg donor managed to finagle her way out of jail? That article wasn't exactly forthcoming with the details."

Daniel rolled his eyes at the "egg donor" comment, but let it go. He took up a spot on Melanie's bed and held her hand. "Did Carly tell you about her son, Nicholas?" he asked.

Melanie nodded. "Once, when we were talking at Maggie's. But she said they weren't close. Did she shoot him, too?"

"Mel," Daniel said in what Melanie was rapidly beginning to think of as his "Dad" voice.

"All right, all right," she said repeating Daniel's earlier eye roll. "Continue."

"She told me the same thing when she first came to town. Said Nicky stopped speaking to her a couple of years ago. Well, he's apparently had a change of heart because he flew in on the family jet in the middle of the night to get to his mother. He also retained one of the best defense attorneys in the country to work on her case. The guy must be as good as his reputation says because according to Bo, he got Judge Ralston to court in the middle of night to grant bail."

"Great!" Melanie exclaimed throwing her hands up in the air. "Now she's gonna be over here in my face again, trying to convince me she has my best interests at heart. I'm going to need more Percocet." She made a motion as if to call for her nurse, then stopped and looked at Phillip. "And possibly some _Jack Daniels_."

Daniel snatched the call button from her hand and shook his head. Though he didn't doubt for a second that if Carly thought it would do her any good with Melanie she would show up for Round Five with their daughter, he felt that with Nicholas in town to distract her she was less likely to turn up and said as much.

"Besides, the judge granted bail only with two very specific strings attached. One being that your mother doesn't come near you unless you specifically request it."

"Not gonna happen" Melanie interrupted.

"And two," Daniel went on as though he hadn't heard her and turned to Phillip to deliver his next bit of information. "That she stays away from your brother for the duration of the trial. According to Bo, he's come under scrutiny about his involvement with Carly and how it may relate to Melanie's shooting."

"But that's ridiculous!" Phillip shouted. "Bo didn't shoot Melanie! Why should he have to pay for what his wrecking-ball, bed buddy did?"

"Look, Phillip, I'm telling you all that I know. I think Bo only told me as much as he did because he wanted Melanie to understand that Carly would abide by the terms of the bail."

"I get that Bo is Carly's knight in shining armor," Melanie started. "But I don't get why any body would think he had something to do with what happened to me. He wasn't even there."

Daniel finally sensed an opening in the conversation he'd been wanting to have, yet was simultaneously dreading, with Melanie for nearly two days. He'd have to tread carefully, though. If Melanie thought for a second that he was going to bat for Carly, she'd chew him up and spit him out. Taking a deep breath, he dove in.

"Bo's the police commissioner, and he's living with your mother, against whom you pressed charges of attempted murder. It's only natural that Bo would be put under the microscope because of his association with Carly and his position on the police force. With the charges pending against her, things don't look very good for Bo, either." Daniel stared intently at Melanie who found the weave of her blanket riveting.

"It's not my fault Bo decided to shack up with a crazy chick," she mumbled quietly. Melanie suddenly felt guilty about what might happen to Bo, and she didn't like the feeling one little bit. She felt Phillip's hand on her shoulder and her father's gaze on her, and she wished she could crawl under the covers and hide.

"You're right, Mel," Phillip assured her. "Bo's a big boy, and we all tried to tell him to stay away from Carly. He didn't listen so he'll have to face the consequences." Though meant to comfort her, Phillip's words had the opposite effect, serving only to make Melanie feel worse. Coupled with the knowledge that Carly had in fact _not_ shot her on purpose, Melanie really wished she had that bottle of _Jack_.

"Could you both go away?" Melanie blurted. Daniel looked surprised and Phillip as though he wanted to protest so she hurried on, "I'm starving. Phillip, could you go to Brady's and get me the Irish Breakfast? I'd like to have a little nap while Phillip is gone so, Daniel, if you could…" Melanie made a farewell gesture with her hand and Daniel nodded, patting her leg.

"Sure, sweetheart. You get some rest. Phillip, I'll go with you. I'm not on shift for another hour and I think I'd like breakfast, too."

"That's great!" Melanie brightened considerably at the prospect of having at least an hour to herself to think. "You guys go and enjoy your breakfast. Take your time. Don't worry about me."

"But I thought you were starving," Phillip began but Melanie cut him off. "I can wait long enough for you to have your breakfast." She gave a truly awful fake yawn and finished, "Besides I think I need a nap first." Her husband and her father exchanged glances, both looking as if neither believed her. Thankfully they didn't push the issue, though. Daniel dropped a kiss on her forehead and went to the door while Phillip kissed her goodbye.

"Get some rest, then. I'll be back in a little while," Phillip told her. She gave them both what she hoped was a cheery smile that turned into a grimace as soon as the door shut behind them.

She sank back onto her pillows with a groan not entirely due to the pain in her side. _I will_ not _feel guilty over Carly Manning_ , Melanie thought to herself. _She threw me away when I was born, then she shot me on my wedding day, end of story._ There, she felt better now. Until her conscience reminded her, _Yes, but she was aiming at Vivian and you know it. You lied to Bo about what you remembered_.

"Shut up," Melanie told her conscience aloud. "What do you know anyway?"

 _That you're a liar,_ came her conscience's reply.

"Great! Now I'm arguing with myself. Out loud. Guess crazy must run in the family." Feeling thoroughly guilty and frustrated over the emotion, Melanie flounced as best as she could with stitches in her side and closed her eyes against the maiasma of unpleasant feelings swirling within her. She somehow did manage to fall asleep, not knowing that she would soon receive a visitor who would forever alter her opinion of her mother.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Carly put away the last of her clothing in the closet of her newly appointed bedroom. After leaving the police station, she, Jack, Carys and Nicky had stopped by Bo's long enough for her to gather her things. They had arrived at the house Nicky had secured for them shortly after sunrise.

She wryly thought the term "house" was relative when applied to this monstrosity. The architectural design was quite modern, but the place was easily large enough to house Carly, her trio of allies and the Salem High football team. On the way over, Carys had given them a run-down of the house based on the specs the realtor had emailed to her.

The center of the house contained an industrial sized kitchen, dining room, great room and office space. Two wings unfurled from this main area and contained four bedrooms each. Each bedroom had its own bathroom. The west wing bedrooms were clearly meant for children and as a result, the four of them had taken the rooms in the east wing. The east wing was also the only elevated level of the house, resting as it did over the basement.

Fortunately, the east wing proved to be the one nestled closest to the woods, and Carly had quickly claimed the bedroom at the back of the house as her own. She briefly wondered how Bo had come to know the layout of the house and made a mental note to ask him when she saw him later that night. She had no doubt that he would make good on his promise. She had already unbolted the window in preparation.

Her mind turned now to her problems with Melanie and from there to the tangled legal web in which she found herself momentarily stuck. The easiest way out of that web was for Melanie to recant her statement. But in order for that to occur, Carly would have to somehow win her daughter's affections. _Rock, meet hard place,_ she thought to herself. Though she could easily work herself into a tizzy over all her problems, she also couldn't contain her smile when she thought about the fact that Nicky was downstairs waiting on her. Carly hadn't dared to hope that her relationship with Nicholas would ever be restored; yet, here he was, ready to defend her to the world. She had to remind herself that if that could happen, then anything was possible. She was not naïve enough to believe that it would be easy, only that it could be done. And the first step on the long road back to her daughter was waiting downstairs. She'd have to face her past with Lawrence and all the hell that came with it before she could look to a future with both of her – and with Bo.

A delicious smell was wafting from the direction of the kitchen as Carly made her way down the staircase and into the main living area of the house. Upon entering the kitchen, she found Carys flipping pancakes. The girl had been busy. Eggs and bacon were already on the sideboard as Carys placed the last of the pancakes onto an empty plate. She jumped when she saw Carly and put her hand to her chest.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," Carly told her. The girl whom Carly had always secretly thought would one day become her daughter-in-law grinned and shook her head.

"It's all right. I tend to zone out when I cook, is all. Did you get settled?"

Carly nodded. "Yes, but you can't have with all this to occupy you." Carly gestured at the sideboard. "You didn't have to go to so much trouble. By the way, how were you even able to do all this?" Carly had barely had time to shower and unpack. How had Carys managed to find her way to an open market at this hour of the morning?

"Oh, well, while Nick was talking with Jack on the flight over, I was dealing with the housing issue. For the price Nick was willing to pay, the realtor was more than happy to ensure we had a well-stocked pantry when we arrived. As to the cooking, well, it's always been my way of relaxing. I love it so it's no trouble. Besides I thought we'd all work best if we had full stomachs."

"You'll get no arguments from us." This came from Nick who had just entered the kitchen with Jack. He put one arm around his mother and with the other, neatly lifted a piece of bacon from the platter on the sideboard.

"You could get a plate, at least," Carys scolded, to which Nick only smirked. Carly's heart was filled with joy as she watched the interplay between Nicky and Carys. She'd always had a soft spot for the lovely red-head, and it was obvious that Carys and Nicky cared for one another deeply. Not that either would admit it to the other. They'd been dancing around each other since they were teenagers, and it didn't appear to Carly that much had changed while she and Nicky had been estranged.

Jack, more used to this behavior from his two friends, sidestepped them both, grabbed a plate and began filling it. Carly fell into step behind him, surprised at how hungry she actually was. Nicky and Carys called a truce in their mock battle and fixed their own plates. Not much conversation was exchanged over the meal as they were all too busy enjoying Carys's cooking to do anything more than request more syrup or juice. Once the four finished eating, however, Jack moved them right along into the business portion of the morning's events.

"Carly," he began, pen at the ready for note taking. "I need you to tell me about Melanie's shooting and the events that led up to it."

Carly drew a shaking breath and laced her fingers together. "Vivian, Lawrence's aunt, knew I had a daughter here in Salem. She went to great lengths to learn her identity and once she discovered Melanie, she began plotting her death. Vivian has been staying with Victor Kiriakis since her return to Salem, and I went to Victor's to tell Melanie the truth before Vivian could harm her. I slipped on the ice and was hospitalized with a concussion. Vivian had her henchman, Gus, kidnap me from the hospital, and he stashed me away in an abandoned warehouse where I was supposed to watch via a webcam as Vivian put her plan into action to kill my baby girl."

Nicholas took his mother's hand for support as he, Carys and Jack listened with rapt attention to her story. "Vivian had a poisoned comb made which she planned to give to Melanie on her wedding day. What Vivian didn't know was that Victor had learned of her plan and switched the comb. He spared Melanie because of Phillip's love for her.

"I managed to get the upper hand on Gus and locked him in a storage closet. I called Bo and left him a message with the address of the warehouse. I then sent a text message to Vivian from Gus's phone, telling her there was a problem. I just knew that I had to get her away from Melanie.

"Meanwhile, Hope Brady had spoken with Victor and had guessed Vivian's plan. She went looking for Bo, too, but instead found my message. She turned up at the warehouse just as I was trying to choke the life out of Vivian. Hope stopped me and was in the process of arresting Vivian, all the while assuring me that Melanie was fine and would come to no harm thanks to Victor.

"Unfortunately, I'd forgotten about Gus. He'd managed to get out of the storage closet and knocked over a bunch of boxes on top of Hope and me. I was a little banged up, but Hope was rendered unconscious. And Vivian got away, Gus hot on her heels.

"I made sure that Hope was all right and called for an ambulance, but I couldn't wait. I'd seen the crazed look in Vivian's eyes, and I knew she meant to kill my daughter, one way or another. So before I left, I took Hope's gun." Here Carly paused long enough to take a long drink of orange juice. Reliving the next series of events was going to be hell, but Carly knew she had to get out the rest of the story. She briefly closed her eyes against the memories and resumed her tale.

"When I arrived at Victor's, the wedding had already taken place. Vivian had coaxed Melanie up onto the roof of the mansion. I raced up there and tried to get Melanie away from Vivian. Melanie was visibly upset and started towards me, but Vivian picked up a steel pipe and raised it at the back of my daughter's head. I pulled Hope's gun and aimed it at Vivian, but my sweet girl…my little baby," Carly began to weep and Nicholas wanted her to stop.

"It's okay, Mom. We can do this later. Maybe you should rest," he suggested. Carly shook her head and though her tears continued to flow and her voice was weaker than Nicky had ever heard it, she soldiered on.

"Melanie stepped in front of Vivian. She didn't even think, just threw herself in front of the wretched woman who was trying to kill her. I'm afraid I don't remember much after that. I know we all went to the hospital and though I wanted to be in the OR while Daniel and Lexi worked on Melanie, no one would let me. Bo convinced Phillip to at least let me donate blood, but then Abe Carver forced Bo to arrest me."

"And it was Bo who posted your bail?" Jack asked.

"Yes, I wasn't supposed to see Melanie as one of the bail conditions, but I snuck over to the hospital and Daniel caught me. He let me have some time with Melanie and she finally came to at the sound of my voice. She didn't remember what had happened at first, but then she remembered. She was understandably upset so Daniel made me leave, but Phillip caught us. He was less than pleased."

"I see, and Daniel is?" Jack queried.

"Dr. Daniel Jonas. He was a very good friend once upon a time, but now…he's Melanie's father and once I told him, well, suffice it to say I think I can cross him off my Christmas card list," Carly finished sardonically.

Carys actually snorted and they all turned to look at her. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "I don't know how you've managed to stay sane, let alone keep your sense of humor," she told Carly. "Honestly, this reminds me of one of those American soap operas my granny was forever watching when I was growing up."

Carly smiled at Carys and agreed wholeheartedly with her. "You have no idea. I could tell you stories about Vivian alone that would make your head spin. And every word is true. Proving it, though, there's the rub. Vivian is very good at covering her tracks."

"Is it true what Nick's dad wrote in one of his journal entries? That his auntie actually stole Nick from you when he was a baby and then told you he was dead?" Carys asked.

"I'm afraid so," Carly answered. "Vivian has had it in for me since I was 18 years old. She never felt I was good enough for Lawrence, and she resented his feelings for me. Her thirst for vengeance can't be slaked, and she will try again to harm Melanie. You can count on it like the sun rising. No matter what happens to me, the most important thing is Melanie's safety."

"What about Nick?" Carys interjected. When they all looked at her, she explained her concern. "It's just that Vivian's attacks on Melanie all stem from her hatred of you. Might she not turn her attentions to Nick when she learns that the two of you have reconciled?" Carly and Nicholas looked at one another before Nick spoke.

"What ever else she may be, Aunt Viv has always loved only two people in this world, my father and me. I don't think she'd turn on me. Don't get me wrong, she's off her rocker, but I just don't believe she'd ever try and hurt me."

Carys disagreed and said so. "Nick, your mother's just told us how Vivian stole you when you were a baby. She was willing to murder your sister just to get revenge on your mum. I think she'd stop at nothing if it meant making your mother miserable."

Nicholas took a moment to ponder Carys's words, and Jack decided to toss in his two cents. "I think you're probably right, Carys. From what I've read in Lawrence Alamain's journals, it's clear the man was a psychopath. The few entries I've read where he mentions his aunt seem to praise the woman for sharing the same trait. It's going to be all over the news that Nick is here in defense of you, Carly. I think we'd do well to consider that she might not take the news too well."

"I don't know," Carly answered, shaking her head. She stood from the table and began to pace. "There was a time when I would have said no, Vivian would never harm a hair on Nicky's head. But the truth is I'm not sure of anything any more. She's so driven by revenge that she might very well come after you, Nicky. You need to be careful, sweetheart."

"Don't worry about me, Mom. I can handle Vivian. As a matter of fact, I think the best thing to do is for me to pay my dear, old aunt a little visit, let her know that I don't appreciate the way people in general and she, in particular, have been treating my mother."

"No, baby! You need to stay away from her. Don't go near her, please? Promise me!" The thought of Vivian in the same room with either of her children was enough to send Carly's blood pressure through the roof. Ignoring his pleas, Nicholas turned to Jack for support.

"What do you think, Jack? What could the harm be in letting Vivian know where I stand with Mom? If nothing else, it may force her into finally revealing her true colors."

Jack nodded in agreement. "It's not a bad idea, Nick. Do you think you can get her to admit to anything?"

Nicholas shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe. I think it's worth a shot to try."

"Wait a minute, who said you two get to go off and talk with the crazy lady while your mum and I are stuck back here?" Carys asked. "I think I can speak for your mum when I say that we don't like that plan, right Carly?"

"Right, Nicholas, I forbid you to go see Vivian. She's so unstable there's no telling what she might do. I won't let you go," Carly finished in her best mothering tone.

"You forbid me?" Nick asked incredulously. "What, am I four years old?" Seeing the naked fear in his mother's eyes, Nicholas immediately changed his tone, though. "Look, Mom, I get that you're scared and worried. How about this? Jack and I will go have a little chat with Vivian, _but_ what if I were to let the Salem P.D. know where we're going, just in case Viv decides to do us in over the wet bar? Please, Mom, let me help you. Let me try to get something out of Vivian. She's been allowed to reak havoc on our lives enough. I promise I'll be careful."

Carly was still for several moments before finally nodding her assent. "And you'll let Bo know what you're up to?"

"I will. I'll call him as soon as Jack and I leave." Reaching into his wallet, Nicholas pulled out a couple of cards and handed them to his mother. "Your debit card and your American Express card, fully reinstated. Why don't you and Carys go out for a while, pick up anything we might need. It might do you some good to get out."

Carly nodded and slid the cards into her jeans pocket. "All right, but please, please be careful!"

Nicholas gave his mother an easy smile and kissed her cheek. "I will, Mom. I'll see you in a bit." Then he and Jack were gone, leaving Carys and Carly to worry and wonder until they returned.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Nicholas and Jack stood just inside the foyer of the Kiriakis mansion, waiting on the butler to locate Vivian. As promised, Nick had phoned Bo on the way over, and though he did warn Nick to watch his back, Bo seemed to think it was probably a good idea to try and get something out of Vivian.

Just then Vivian burst into the foyer and made a beeline for Nick. She threw her arms around him and began simultaneously kissing his cheeks and hugging him by way of a greeting. He could hear Jack laughing under his breath behind him, and unable to bear any more, he gave Vivian a solid push to force her away from him. Not to be put off, Vivian simply took Nicholas's hand and dragged him into the sitting room, push notwithstanding.

"Oh, darling!" she cried when they were seated. "It's so wonderful to see you! My poor dear, however are you coping without your beloved father?" Not waiting for an answer, Vivian launched into a line of inane questions and statements surrounding Nicholas's personal health and welfare, her continued sorrow over his father's "untimely death," and ended with a general statement as to the worthlessness of his "despicable mother."

"Actually, Aunt Viv," Nicholas said, seizing the first opportunity to get a word in edgewise. "That's why I'm here, to speak with you about my mother."

"Whatever for, my darling? Why should we waste any of our time together discussing a murderess, who, since coming to Salem has added adultery and attempted murder to her growing list of sins? Why, I see no reason at all to speak of her at all. She's in jail right now awaiting trial for the attempted murder of her own daughter, for heaven's sake, and that's where she'll stay until they cart her off to prison where she belongs." Vivian finished her tirade, barely able to contain the note of triumph in her voice. Nicholas raised an eyebrow at Jack who gave an imperceptible nod.

"Actually, Vivian, Mom isn't in jail. That's what I came to tell you."

"Not in jail? Well, that's impossible! Who in their right mind would bail out that woman? It couldn't have been Bo – he wouldn't have that kind of money, not after posting her bail the _last_ time she was jailed. And what judge would even grant bail? This is the most absurd news I've ever heard." Once she got going, Vivian could prattle on for hours, Nick knew from personal experience. He decided he'd better take the reins of the conversation once more. And he knew exactly how to take the wind out of his aunt's sails.

"Mom isn't in jail, Vivian, because I posted her bail." He paused to let the words penetrate Vivian's cross-wired brain. He could tell the moment they sank in because his aunt's face took on the most bizarre look, and she stared at him for a fraction of a second as though she were suddenly in the presence of an enemy. Just as quick as the look appeared, Vivian schooled her features and asked, "Nicholas, why would you do such a thing? Now, I realize that your mother can be quite persuasive, but you must remain strong for the sake of your father's memory."

"Why, Aunt Viv? Why would I want to remember the perverted psycho who brutalized and tortured my mother for years? Why would I give any loyalty to the man who stole my sister from my mother and did his dead-level best to make me turn on her. The ironic thing is that in the end, it was Dad who brought Mom and I back together. You see, I read Dad's journals, all of them. He was extremely thorough. He documented every twisted thing he ever did to my mother, right down to how he was planning on murdering my sister and her father. That's why my mother killed him, and had I known about his sadistic plot beforehand, I would've saved her the trouble. I would have driven that knife into him personally." Nicholas spoke the last few words right into Vivian's face, who visibly blanched.

"As I said, I came here to discuss my mother with you. I'm very much in her corner, and I will do everything within my considerable power to see that she is exonerated. I won't accept anything less. I also won't stand for anyone to insult, threaten or otherwise harm my mother or make her the slightest bit unhappy in any way, shape or form. That's why I think it would be best if you were to take a little vacation. It's no secret that you harbor, shall we say, ill will, towards my mother. If something were to happen to her, with you here in town, you'd be my first stop on the revenge train. And wouldn't that be a shame?" A cold, calculating grin had settled on Nick's face, and it made the hair on Jack's arms rise.

Vivian had gone quite still at Nicholas's veiled warning. She felt as though she had landed squarely in the middle of an alternate universe. _For what other reason could there be for Nicholas, her precious great-nephew, sitting here threatening her over his loathsome mother? How had she managed to lose his affections?_

Nicholas felt he had made his point and reached over to squeeze Vivian's hand a bit too hard, causing her to wince. "Well, I think we understand each other, Vivian. Jack, let's get out of here. Oh, allow me to introduce Jack Campbell, Vivian, of Hale, Feldman and Campbell. He's a close, personal friend, and he's taken Mom's case. I'm sure he'll have this little legal matter cleared up in no time.

"I'd say it's been a pleasure, Viv, but, well, that would be a lie. So you just hop a plane to anywhere in the world that isn't here, and we won't have any problems at all. Goodbye, Vivian. I hope to never see you again."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Carly checked her phone for what must have been the hundredth time since Jack and Nicky had left. Carys noticed the older woman's anxiety and did her best to soothe Carly. They had gone on a mini shopping spree to gather clothing and toiletries for Nick and her and were now on their way to the market to round out the kitchen supplies.

"I'm sure they're fine. Nick did promise he'd call Bo and let him know what they were up to, and I'm sure Nick will call you the moment he's done with Vivian."

Carly nodded absent-mindedly, but didn't seem to take Carys's words to heart. Carys suspected that Nicholas's absence wasn't the only thing occupying Carly's thoughts and said as much.

"I miss Bo," Carly admitted, then blushed. "I know that must seem ridiculous considering that I just saw him a few hours ago, but it's the truth. He's been my rock though all of this. When I first came back to Salem, he put his life on hold just to help me with my mine."

"He seems to love you very much," Carys said, smiling.

"He does, but we still have a lot of issues to work through." _Like his marriage to Hope,_ Carly thought to herself.

Carys seemed to read her mind when she asked, "You mean because of his marriage? Nick gave me a bit of background on you and Bo. He said that Bo thought Hope was dead when you two were together?"

"That's right. Hope turned up alive a few years after I left Salem with Nicky and Lawrence. You know, part of me can't help but wonder how different things would have been if I'd never left."

"Why did you leave?" Carys asked. "I mean I know that Nick was part of the reason. He told me that he'd asked you and his dad to be a real family, but I've seen the way that you and Bo look at one another. If the bond between you then was anything like what I've witnessed, then I don't understand how you _could_ have left Bo. Even love for a child would have a hard time overcoming that kind of connection. I'm sorry if I've been too forward," Carys apologized when Carly looked hurt. "Sometimes my mouth isn't connected to my brain. Nick tells me so all the time."

"It's all right. Tact isn't exactly my strong suit, either. Besides, on the surface you're right. But once again you have to factor Vivian Alamain into the equation."

"Surely Vivian can't have wanted you to be with Lawrence?"

"Oh, she didn't. In fact, she didn't want me with anyone." At Carys's questioning look, Carly went on. "She buried me alive. But first she framed me for the murders of some of my patients, and then she drugged me so that everyone, including Bo, would think I was dead. I came to inside a custom built coffin complete with an intercom system so that Vivian could torment me until I _did_ die from lack of oxygen."

"Hell's bells!" Carys exclaimed. "How in God's name is this woman still walking around free?"

With detached clarity, Carly relayed the tale to Carys, from how Lawrence had rescued her to losing her memory of the previous ten years and thinking that Lawrence was really James, the man he had pretended to be when they'd first met years earlier.

"Lawrence, always willing to seize an opportunity, kept me hidden away for weeks until Bo and his brother, Roman, turned up on the doorstep demanding answers. Lawrence told them about the memory loss and said it would upset me too much – according to the doctor that he'd hired – to be confronted with reality. They left, but a few days later, Lawrence and I ran into Bo and woman named Billie Reed."

"Did that trigger your memory?"

Carly shook her head. "No. I didn't know either of them from Adam's housecat. But Lawrence thought it would be best to get me out of Salem while my memory was still basically Swiss cheese so he made plans to shuttle me out of the country on his private jet."

"What happened then?"

"Billie Reed found out what Lawrence was up to and brought Nicky to the airport. He called out to me and just like that, I remembered everything. Lawrence told me that he was taking Nicky back to Alamania and that I could come if I wanted, but he felt it would be best for Nicky to get him away from Salem. I thought about it, what life would be like for Nicky with two parents who loved him, and truthfully, I did love Lawrence. He'd finally become the man that I always thought he could be, and I believed we could make a family.

"So I went to Bo and told him everything. I felt like I at least owed him that much. And then Nicky, Lawrence and I left. We had about a month together before Lawrence fell ill. It was all downhill after that."

Carys let out a breath that she didn't even realize she'd been holding. Her heart broke for the woman next to her in the car. What Carly had survived through those long years at the hands of a madman – it was enough to tear a weaker person to shreds. But Carly wasn't weak. Carys believed that with every fiber of her being. And she also believed that Carly would emerge from this battle even stronger than before. But there was a long road ahead of them, no doubt.

Regardless of the challenges they faced, they would face them better with full stomachs. _When in doubt, eat_ , or so Carys's grandmother had taught her. This was running through Carys's mind when they pulled into the parking lot of the market. In contrast, Carly was praying to any god who might be listening that she wouldn't run into anyone she knew. With her edginess over Nicky's confrontation with Vivian and her anger at being parted from Bo, she doubted she could keep her temper in check if she had a run-in with any of the many members of the "I Hate Carly" club.

Blessedly, there was no one Carly knew in the market, and she tagged along behind Carys as the girl loaded down a shopping cart with every kind of food item known to man. Laughing, Carly asked, "Are you feeding an army?"

"Close, Nick and Jack are bottomless pits. Individually, they'll eat anything that doesn't move, and together, they can destroy a kitchen in one sit-down. And my grandmother always taught me that food can cure just about anything that ails you. I've often thought that one of her homemade chocolate cakes presented at a UN summit could actually bring about world peace." Carys explained all this as she put the ingredients into the cart to make that very chocolate cake.

"I could certainly use a little peace."

"You'll have it," Carys spoke with confidence. "I've never seen Nick fail when he puts his mind to something. We'll get you out of this trouble, you'll see."

"You, ah, seem to have a lot of faith in my son," Carly said.

"I do, and so should you," Carys replied without hesitation. "He's the best man I know, and he feels just awful over how badly things have gone between you for the past few years. From the moment he read his father's journals, he's thought of nothing but getting to you. I thought he'd wear a hole in the carpet of the plane on the way over here."

"Above all, I just want my children to be safe and happy. Beyond those two things, I don't really care what happens to me." Carly spoke with absolute conviction, and in that moment, Carys realized that it was love for her children that had sustained Carly all these years. She only hoped that Nick would somehow be able to get through to his sister, Melanie. For Carys knew of one stop that Nick was planning on making that his mother knew nothing about.

Nick had taken a few of his father's journals with him and was planning on dropping by the hospital for a little impromptu family reunion. Knowing the ruckus his mother would likely raise, Nick had sworn Carys to secrecy, promising that he would reveal all to Carly later in the evening. As she and Carly made their way to the checkout, Carys whispered a silent prayer that for once, fate would swing in Carly's favor.

Nick watched amazed as Jack wheedled Melanie's room number out of the charge nurse. No woman could resist him once he turned on the charm. Nick stayed just out of sight, two of his father's journals clutched under his arm. The plan was for Jack to get the room number to Nick and for him to stand guard, while Nick went into speak with his half-sister.

 _Half-sister,_ that was a staggering thought for a man who less than 48 hours before had not even known he'd had a sibling. Still, despite all the turmoil associated with his new-found family member, Nick had to admit that the idea itself was not altogether unpleasant. He'd always wanted a younger sibling, though he had always pictured a brother. He recalled asking his mother once for a younger brother only to be told that it was impossible. His eidetic memory instantly processed that the conversation with his mother had to have taken place mere weeks after Melanie had been born and subsequently taken. Even then, his mother had been trying her best to protect him, despite the fact that her own heart was shattered.

Nick was interrupted in his stroll down memory lane by Jack. "She's in 801, Nick, but Nurse Jamie told me there's a police guard on 24-hour watch. We may need to re-think our plan."

Nick looked around and could just see the door to 801. Fortune must have been smiling on him for at that exact moment the policeman on duty left his post and headed towards the restroom. Not pausing to think further, Nick clapped Jack on the back and walked briskly to the door. He cast a furtive eye around the floor and seeing no one other than Jack paying the slightest bit of attention he opened the door to the room and slipped inside.

The blonde in the bed looked up at his arrival, and Nick instantly knew her for his mother's daughter. "Who are you? What are you doing here? What do you want?" The questions were fired at him rapidly, but Nick, unfazed, walked slowly across the room, pulled the lone chair up beside the bed and sat down before answering her questions just as quickly.

"My name is Nicholas Alamain. I'm your half-brother, and I'm here to discuss our mother. I want you to drop the charges against her and give her a chance to explain her motives surrounding your, for lack of a better word, adoption." Having shocked Melanie into silence with his replies, Nick leaned back, waiting for the words to sink in. He waited approximately 2.5 seconds before the explosion occurred.

"YOU WANT ME TO WHAT?" Melanie shouted at him. "I don't know who you think you are, but you aren't my 'brother,' half or otherwise, and that crazy bitch shot me in cold blood, and now she's going to pay!" Melanie sat back after her tirade, a self-satisfied smirk on her face. "Okay, thanks for stopping by. You can leave now. Have a nice life."

Nick gave her smirk back to her and said, "I don't think so, 'Sis'. I'm not leaving until I've said my peace. I've got some information that I think will interest you. All I ask is that you hear me out, take a look at what I've brought and think it over. After that, it's up to you to decide what to do. Now who can say fairer than that?"

Melanie didn't respond, but she didn't make a move to throw him out on his ear, either. He took that as a good sign and launched into his spiel. "I know you've accused our mother…"

"Crazy Bitch," Melanie interrupted with a deceptively sweet smile.

"Our mother," Nick repeated with his own small smile, "Of trying to murder you. I also know that _you_ know that's a load of crap. Deep down, you know she was trying to save you from my bat-crazy aunt. You're just pissed at Mom because you think she threw you away when you were born. I'm here to rectify that opinion."

"You seem to know an awfully lot about me considering we've only just met."

"We share the same genes. I made it my business to learn as much about you as possible." With that Nick withdrew the two journals that he'd brought and passed them to his sister.

Having no visible alternative, Melanie accepted them and asked, "What are these?"

"The cold and calculated ravings of Lawrence Alamain, my father. He's the man who _forced_ our mother to give you away when you were born. He promised to let you live if Mom vowed to never see you again. He was actually going to kill you when you were two days old. But it's all there, in his own handwriting. I marked the passages that I thought would be the most enlightening. I think my father's words will change your attitude towards our mother. God knows, they certainly changed mine."

"And what if they don't?"

Nick shrugged and said, "Then at least I know I've tried. As I said, the rest is up to you. Well, I've taken up enough of your time. I'll leave you to your reading. I hope the next time we meet it will be under much more pleasant circumstances." Nick turned towards the door, then stopped and once more to look at Melanie. "I always wanted a little sister," he said with a winning smile. He got out of the door just as Melanie hurled a pillow at him.

Grumbling at her aim, Melanie managed to hobble out of bed, get the pillow and haul herself back in the bed. She was winded, but it felt good to move under her own power. Thus far, Daniel and Phillip had let her take only very short walks with one of them supporting her on either side. Settling back against her pillows, Melanie huffed and puffed out her frustration over her visitor. Yet, before she could stop herself, she seized the first of the two journals and began to read.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Carly wiped the steam from the mirror and stared at her reflection. _Not bad,_ she thought. Her hair was still pinned up from her bath, though several errant strands had escaped and were presently framing her face in a way she felt was not unflattering. Her face was devoid of makeup, but flushed with a healthy glow. She had no way of knowing for certain, but she felt as though Bo would be with her very soon, and she wanted to be prepared, hence the long soak in the tub. All afternoon, a slow, sweet ache had been spreading through her body, and in a way she couldn't put into words, Carly knew that Bo would come to her.

So after a lengthy legal conversation with Jack in which the lawyer informed Carly that the best and most efficient way out of her troubles was for Melanie to recant her statement Carly had locked herself in her bathroom to soak in the tub, repeatedly filling it with hot water until every muscle in her body was relaxed. Carly could only hope that Nicky's visit to Melanie would do some good. She was still unsure as to how she felt about Melanie reading all the awful things that Lawrence had done to her, but there wasn't anything she could do about it now. Given the choice, Carly would have prevented both her children from ever learning the gory details of her life with Lawrence. Nicky knew that, which was why he hadn't informed her ahead of time of his decision to present Melanie with some of his father's journals.

Wrapping her body in a towel, Carly turned on her heel and walked into her bedroom in order to choose something to wear. She was spared from making that choice when she found Bo lounging on her bed, his gaze intent on her every move.

"Hey, Princess," he greeted in a casual tone belied by the slightly predatory look in his eyes. Bo rose from his place on the bed and stalked – there was no other word for it – over to Carly. Taking hold of the hand not currently clutching the towel to her body, he placed a gentle kiss in her open palm. "Love your outfit," he told her, smiling.

Carly beamed back at him. "I'm not wearing anything."

"Exactly," Bo breathed the word against Carly's lips before slanting his mouth over hers in a bruising kiss that Carly felt all the way down to her toes. She luxuriated in the sensation of his body against hers for an indulgent few seconds before pulling away suddenly and silencing his protests with a finger to his lips.

"Hold on just a minute, sailor, I've got a question for you. I wanna know how _you_ knew which bedroom I should take in this house."

Bo stared at her incredulously, one hand frozen against the knot of her towel. "That's what you want to talk about, right now?" Carly nodded slowly, her face a mask of innocence. Bo all but pouted, barely resisting the urge to beg, before sighing heavily. "Okay, Princess, if that's what you'd really rather talk about, here's how I knew. A couple of years ago, there was a family with three small kids living here. The youngest was four, and one afternoon, he went missing. He'd gotten into trouble earlier that day, and at first his parents thought he might be hiding in the woods. It was the middle of winter and growing dark so they called the police. We notified the FBI, and they sent over a unit from Chicago to help us search. We looked all night, through the house, the yard and the woods. We issued an Amber alert, set up road blocks and had the Coast Guard set up a block at the mouth of the river."

"Oh my God, Bo, that's horrible!" Carly exclaimed, terrified to think what might have happened to the little boy.

Bo nodded in agreement before taking her hand and leading her towards the closet door. "Oh, it was, Princess. The poor parents were going out of their minds, understandably, and the other kids were terrified. But then one of the FBI agents made a discovery," Bo explained as he opened the closet door and pushed aside some of the clothes that were hanging against the back. "See this?" He gestured to a nearly seamless wall panel that Carly had completely missed during her unpacking. Touching it just so, Bo slid the panel out of the way to reveal a tiny crawl space that would be perfect for concealing a safe or other small valuables. "The kid was camped out in here with blankets, a flashlight, toys and snacks, sound asleep. He'd heard everyone looking for him, but he told us he was afraid to come out, thinking he'd get into even more trouble. So he planned to wait until things settled down before sneaking out and into his own room, but he fell asleep waiting."

Carly nodded her head slowly. "Wow, I'm not sure whether to be impressed with his cunning or be terrified of it. But I think I feel sorry for his parents!"

"Well, right now, I'd rather you feel sorry for me," Bo told her, backing her out of the closet and closing the door. "Now, Dr. Manning, if I've satisfied your curiosity for the evening, I'd much rather you allow me to satisfy some of your other needs," he whispered against her lips.

"Oh, by all means, Commissioner," Carly purred, wrapping her arms around Bo and kissing him slowly. Using his height for leverage, he pushed her against the nearest wall and pulled the towel from her body. Bathed in the moonlight, her skin golden from it, she looked every inch a goddess. With one final kiss to her mouth, Bo slid down her body, hooked one longer-than-long leg over his shoulder and proceeded to worship at the altar of his lover.

Bo's mouth stoked the fire within Carly, forcing her breath to come in gasps. She placed a hand on his shoulder to steady herself, but she was in no real danger of falling, at least physically. Metaphorically speaking, Bo's lips and tongue were driving her quickly to the edge of reality. One more swipe of his talented tongue across her clit, and she _was_ falling, tumbling into blind pleasure and crying out his name.

He rode the wave of pleasure with her before sliding slowly back up her body, placing lazy kisses on her belly and breasts, before taking her mouth once more. Tasting herself on his lips, Carly became the aggressor, tugging at Bo's clothing. She succeeded in removing his shirt and began pushing his jeans down his hips. They hit the floor and Bo, already barefooted, stepped out of them and fell backwards on the bed, taking Carly with him.

She straddled Bo's waist bringing her sex into contact with his hardness, but rather than let him in where he most wanted to be, she shimmied down his body and engulfed him in her mouth instead. Her name was a prayer on his lips as she quickly brought him to the brink. Sensing his impending climax, Carly backed off the pressure until she was making only languid passes at his cock with her tongue. Unable to take anymore, Bo hauled her up by her arms and thrust upwards into her weeping flesh. Carly rose up and over him again and again, her thigh muscles clenching as she rode him. Bo's hands went to her full breasts, kneading the pebbled tips into aching points of desire. Bo was close and could tell Carly was as well from the way the flush crept upwards, pink and lovely, from her breasts to the long column of her neck. Then she was coming all around him, taking him with her into the abyss. She collapsed boneless atop him, the aftershocks of her second orgasm ricocheting through him.

"I love you, Princess," he whispered into her hair.

"Love you," she answered back. Turning, Bo gathered her in his arms, already feeling his body beginning to respond to her closeness. It had always been like that with them – Bo had always been aware of Carly on a visceral level, more so than with any of his other lovers. He seemed to always be in a constant state of readiness for her. Carly could feel him hardening against her leg and thrust her hips towards him gently in invitation. Bo placed a tender kiss on her neck and whispered.

"I never forgot how it was between us, the way we always wanted each other."

"Neither did I. It seemed like I was ready for you again sometimes before we even finished." She ground her hips against him, more forcefully this time. "I'm glad to see things haven't changed."

Bo laughed a little. "Me, too, but damn, woman! I'm pushing 50 and you'll be 46 on your birthday. You'd think time would slow us down a little."

Carly joined him in laughter and replied, "Well, why don't you get back to me when I'm 76 and you're pushing 80, and we'll see if we've still got it?"

"Don't worry, Princess. I know you'll still have it and I'm pretty sure I can find it somewhere." He then claimed her mouth and proceeded to show her that, for the time being, they both still definitely had it.

Carly had lost track of how many times she and Bo had made love. She knew of at least three times after she'd entered her room that evening and found him waiting for her, and they'd each awakened the other once after brief intervals of sleep. She felt only slightly guilty at having kept him up most of the night as he did have to work in the morning. She was selfish enough to admit that being in his arms kept all her demons at bay, and she'd happily stay there forever for any number of reasons.

She watched him sleep, peaceful at last in her arms, and was pleased that she could protect him from his demons, too. Between the two of them, they had more than enough to keep them busy in the daylight. But at night, they could just be them, sheltering one another from the world.

Bo had asked her earlier if it would always be like that between them and she had jokingly told him to check with her in 30 years and they'd see. The truth was she knew it would. When they'd been together all those years ago, they were in a near-constant state of arousal for one another. If anything, time had only made their connection stronger. It was a bit frightening, how quickly the old feelings had come rushing back. But they weren't running from them. They'd faced them head-on and come out stronger, Carly felt, for it. _Were there hurdles to overcome?_ That went without saying. _Problems?_ Certainly. But together, Carly was beginning to believe that they could conquer anything and everything that the world threw their way.

"I can hear you thinking, Princess." Bo's voice was thick with sleep. "How do you even have enough energy _left_ to think?"

"You know my brain just won't turn off sometimes," Carly answered. "I was actually thinking about us, that's all."

"What about us?"

"How good we are together," she answered and kissed the side of his mouth. "How we just seem to get better and better."

"That we do," Bo agreed. He hooked an arm around her waist and pulled her flush against him. "I missed you today."

"We were only apart a couple of hours," Carly laughed, then added, "I missed you, too. It really pisses me off that the judge can tell us to stay away from each other. I'm sick and tired of people telling me how to live my life!" Bo sensed that she wasn't only talking about the terms of her bail. He felt that her sudden outburst had not a little to do with Larry. There was so much he wanted to ask her, but he didn't want to push her. She'd tell him when she was ready, when she needed to, and he'd bide his time until then. Nicholas had shared some of Larry's journals with him, and Bo had gotten physically sick at the asshole's giddy recollections of the ways in which he had tortured Carly. He knew she'd be mortified to learn that he'd read Larry's sick little tribute to himself, but Bo knew that Carly would eventually find out what her son had shared with him.

"What did he do to you, Princess?" The question surprised Carly, but she didn't have to ask who Bo meant by "he." Rolling away and sitting up, Carly clutched the sheet around her and began to speak.

"He hurt me," she admitted quietly, and with those few words, the ghost of Lawrence Alamain walked the room. Bo instinctively reached for her, but Carly shrugged off his embrace. "Could you just not touch me right now, please? It's hard enough to talk about, but if you touch me, well, I just need to keep the two of you separate."

"We don't have to talk about this right now, Carly."

"No, I need to talk about it and you need to hear it, whether or not we want to."

"Lawrence was furious when I told him I was pregnant. I thought for sure that he would kill me on the spot. He almost hit me, but he stopped himself and left. He was gone for days. Nicky was away at school, and I was trapped in the mansion with Lawrence's henchmen disguised as my personal bodyguards.

"But then he came home. And he was different, sweet, even. He said it didn't matter that I'd been unfaithful. He forgave me, and we would raise the baby together. He said the child would never know that he wasn't its father. And idiot that I was, I believed him. Bo, I swear, I thought he'd changed again! I thought it would be all right! He was so…kind to me. If I'd known what really lay under the surface…" Her voice trailed off and Bo, careful not to touch her, tried to comfort her with words.

"Princess, you couldn't have known. It isn't your fault. Lawrence was a consummate liar. He tricked you, wanted you to believe in him so that he could hurt you more deeply. Lay the blame where it belongs, right at his feet. None of it rests on you."

Carly violently shook her head, tears falling from her eyes. "But no one knew Lawrence better than I did, Bo. If anyone should have known what he was capable of, it was me. He lied to me when we first met, pretending to be someone that he wasn't, and I fell for his act then, too.

"But he really poured on the charm this time. He was attentive, catered to my every whim. He got me the best obstetrician. She made house calls, for God's sake! I should have known then that something was up. Also, he didn't want to tell Nicky until the baby was born. He said he was afraid that if something happened to the baby that it would be too hard for Nicky to understand. Better to wait, he said.

"But all the time he was planning, plotting what he would ultimately do to me and my daughter. I was too blind to see it." Bo knew all of this, of course, from reading Larry's delusional journal entries. But Carly was right – _she_ needed to talk through it, until she, too, understood that the blame rested on her dead husband.

"Two weeks before my due date, Lawrence flew us to Switzerland, to the hospital where my doctor primarily practiced. Only the best, he said, the best doctor, the best care, the best of everything. And the best place to put his nefarious plan into action. Lawrence never left my side, walking with me through the contractions, rubbing my back to relieve the pain, feeding me ice chips. He was the perfect husband and father-to-be.

"And then Lily was born." Carly looked at him for the first time since beginning her story. "Lily. Did I ever tell you that was what I was going to name her?" Bo shook his head. "She was so perfectly beautiful, just like a tiny lily and within seconds of her birth, I envisioned an equally perfect life for the four of us. It took my doctor a long time to stitch me up because I'd torn very badly. Lawrence sat next to me the whole time, holding our daughter, cooing to her, praising her beauty, saying she looked just like me. And I bought his act, hook, line and sinker."

"What happened then?"

"My doctor finished and left the room. Lawrence turned to me and just as calmly as if he were telling me the time, he informed me that he'd arranged to give my daughter away. He'd already taken care of everything, and within 48 hours it would be as though I'd never even been pregnant with another man's child. He had the most crazed look in his eyes, and he was still holding Lily. He stood up with her and actually pretended to drop her right in front of me.

"I begged and pleaded with him to let me keep her. I swore I'd do anything, anything at all that he ever wanted, if I could just keep her. But he told me that the only way he'd let her live was if I gave her away to the couple he'd chosen. I knew he meant it. If I hadn't agreed to give my baby up, then he would have killed her right then. I've no doubt in my mind that he would have done it, Bo. I couldn't let him kill her! I thought I was doing the right thing! I never dreamed in a million years that my little girl would grow up in hell, that Trent would steal her childhood like that! How am I going to make it right? How am I going to make it up to Melanie?"

Carly finally crumpled in his arms, allowing him to hold her while she cried. Bo held her until her tears were spent, wanting nothing more in the world than to fix every bad thing that had happened to her over the past twenty years.

Once her sobs subsided into intermittent gasps for breath, Carly sat up and once again resumed her story. "Lawrence waited three weeks after Melanie was born before he raped me the first time. Although I'm not certain that it's rape if I didn't fight him after the first few times."

"It was rape," Bo assured her with absolute conviction.

"Well, any way, he hurt me. And he enjoyed it. I wasn't healed at all. He would beat me if I fought him, but never where anyone could see the marks. He was overly fond of breaking my ribs. Eventually I just quit fighting. But even if he didn't hit me with his fists, he struck me with his words. The man did enjoy the sound of his own voice," she said bitterly. "There were times that I wished he would just kill me, if only to spare me from his diatribes."

Bo saw the words in his mind just as he'd read them in the pages of Larry's ruminations. _Whore, slut, bitch,_ seemed to be the man's favorites with _useless, unloved and unwanted_ coming in close behind. Oh, how Bo wished he could have five minutes alone in a room with Lawrence Alamain. He would have made the bastard pay for every single tear that he'd caused Carly to weep.

"But he just kept it up," Carly was saying, pulling Bo from his mental battle with a ghost. "Day after day until the days became weeks and the weeks became years, he raped and beat me and mentally berated me until I knew that no one would ever love me again." She finished so quietly that Bo had a hard time hearing her. Surely she didn't still think herself unlovable?

"Princess," he said, looking deeply into her eyes. "I love you. Do you hear me? If I'm honest about it, there hasn't been a day these last twenty years that I haven't loved you. And now to have you again, to be able to see you, talk with you, make love with you, I'm the luckiest man on the planet.

"I will go on loving you until my dying day, and that's why you've got to fight. _We've_ got to fight these charges, make Melanie see what she's missing by not having you in her life. You've got to fight for yourself, and you've got to fight for us! I'm not going to lose you again, no matter what happens. We belong together, to one another." Bo crushed Carly to him, pouring all his love for her into a kiss. Carly responded in kind, wrapping herself around him.

"Make love to me, Bo," she whispered between fevered kisses. "Don't ever let me go." Silently Bo bore her down to the mattress and gave his Princess her heart's desire.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Bo stared at the sleeping beauty in the bed before him. After their late-night discussion they'd made love until just before sunrise. Exhausted, Carly had fallen asleep in his arms. He'd been afraid she would awaken when he'd extricated himself from her in order to get ready for work, but she'd merely rolled over and sank back into sleep.

Showered and dressed, he had to leave now in order to get to the station in time for his shift. He looked to the window that he'd used last night to sneak into her room and contemplated the rose bush growing up the trellis just outside. Inspired, he used his pocket knife to cut away one of the red blooms, laying it on the pillow next to Carly. Then kissing her cheek and whispering his love for her, he shouldered his bag and climbed out the window.

Bo had left his car in a clearing about a mile from the house. Despite the hike back facing him, Bo felt better than he had in years. He felt rejuvenated, like he could take on the world with one hand tied behind his back. But Carly had always made him feel that way. Something in her called to the rebel in him, and it felt good to give into that side of his nature again. He'd repressed it for so long that he'd begun to wonder if it had disappeared altogether. Five minutes in Carly's presence, however, had brought it roaring to the surface.

Arriving at his car, Bo tossed his duffle bag into the trunk and drove to the station. He grabbed his first cup of coffee for the day and nearly bowled Hope over on his way back to his office. Hope, ostensibly searching for him, had been coming out his office door.

"Geez, Hope, I'm sorry," he began. He'd barely managed to prevent spilling his coffee all over her. Hope shook her head, dismissing the run-in.

"It's all right. I wanted to find you. At least I succeeded in that. We need to talk about our…situation." Her tone was serious and let him know immediately that it wasn't a suggestion. He'd known this day was coming and though it wasn't perhaps his ideal way to pass a morning, he actually found that he was looking forward to settling things between them once and for all.

"We do," he agreed and could tell she was surprised when he didn't try and dodge her. "But not here. Let's go down to the waterfront." They made the short walk to the waterfront in awkward silence, Bo having decided already to let Hope take the lead. There was a time, long ago, when he would have professed the ability to read her mind. Those days were gone. She didn't leave him to wonder for long, though, and got right to the point.

"This thing you have with Carly, it's real for you, isn't it?"

Bo nodded. "It's real for her, too."

Hope went on as though she hadn't heard him. "And there's nothing I can do to change your mind? Nothing at all I can do or say to bring you back to me?" Bo shook his head. The hurt was evident in Hope's eyes, but Bo knew the only way for her to heal was to make the break clean.

"Why not?" she asked, on the verge of tears.

"Because you aren't Carly," Bo answered as gently as possible.

"She left you. What makes you so sure that she won't leave again?"

"Because we aren't the same people we were then. I wasn't exactly myself after I was kidnapped, and then we learned about Nicky. Vivian almost killed Carly. It was a bad time, and we let our circumstances dictate our actions. We're in it for the long haul this time, both of us," he said with certainty. Hope was openly weeping now.

"All these years, you've loved her, haven't you?" Again, Bo only nodded. "What if she'd stayed? If you'd still been with Carly when I came back, would you have left her for me?"

Bo hesitated only a split second before answering. He didn't want to hurt Hope any further, but he had to tell the truth. "No. I would've been thrilled for Shawn D that you were alive, but I would never have left Carly."

Hope closed her eyes against the truth of Bo's words. She couldn't believe that 25 years and three children had been rendered null and void by two sentences. "Bo, you have to see how insane this sounds. You barely had three years with this woman, and you're going to throw away our 25-year marriage for her? It's preposterous!"

"Fancy Face," he started but stopped short at the anger that flashed in her brown eyes.

"You _don't_ get to call me that! Not anymore."

"Fine, _Hope_ ," he emphasized, his own ire rising. "I'm in love with Carly. I want to make a life with her. You can try and blame Carly all you want, but the truth is you and I had problems long before she came back to Salem. I'm sorry for the way things played out between us, Hope, but I can't apologize for loving Carly. I won't. You and I have never had a perfect relationship and you know it. There's no point in blaming one another for our past problems. The fact is I'm with Carly now, and that's where I'm going to stay. All that's left for us to decide is how best to help Ciara through our divorce."

"The best thing for Ciara is to have her parents together, Bo, not to be shuttled back and forth like a piece of luggage! She doesn't even like Carly! How is she supposed to accept her as a step-mother?"

Bo ran his hands through his hair in aggravation. "Hope. Ciara has spent all of five minutes with Carly. She hasn't had a _chance_ to like her. They'll get to know one another. Carly was wonderful with Shawn D. She really bonded with him…"

"Yeah, she bonded with him so much that she left him to run off and be Queen of Alamania!" Hope shouted.

Reining in his temper, Bo responded as calmly as possible. "She left Shawn and me in order to give _her son,_ the one who was stolen from her as a baby, a life with his mother and his father. She thought she was making the right decision. Carly would do anything; sacrifice anything, even herself and her own happiness, for her children." Bo couldn't prevent the tears that gathered in his eyes when he recalled just what Carly had forfeited, trying to keep her daughter alive. "The two of you are a lot alike in that aspect."

"Look, I'm not unsympathetic to what has happened to Carly regarding her children. But from what I understand she has her son back now. What's to prevent her running off again in order to be closer to him, especially if Melanie doesn't come around? I can't allow _my_ daughter to get close to someone who might up and leave her at the drop of a hat."

"Ciara is my daughter, too, Hope. I love that little girl. She's my baby, and I would do everything in my power to protect her. Carly will be acquitted of these charges, and she and I will be married, Hope." Hope blanched. "She will be Ciara's step-mother. You just have to accept it. If I thought for one instant that Carly would hurt Ciara, I'd not let her anywhere near our child, regardless of my feelings for Carly. But she won't hurt Ciara."

Hope took a deep breath. "I know she'd never intentionally hurt Ciara. But Ciara will be hurt nonetheless by our splitting up. How do you think she'll react when you present her with a ready-made step-mother?"

"I know it won't be easy, Fan – Hope. But Ciara is a smart little girl. You and I just have to let her know that her mommy and daddy love her very much and that we'll always be there for her, even if we aren't together. She'll spend some time with me and Carly, and they'll get to know each other."

"It's good to know that you've got the rest of our lives planned out so thoroughly," Hope remarked snidely.

"Jesus, Hope! What do you want me to say? You left me and took our daughter. I'm in love with another woman, for fuck's sake! Did you really think that you and I were just going to kiss and make up and go back to the way we used to be?" Judging by the stunned look on her face, that was _exactly_ what Hope had been thinking.

"Come on, you're smarter than that, Hope. Do you really want to be with a man who isn't in love with you?" Finally, he saw realization dawn in her eyes.

"This is really it, isn't it, Brady? We're done, aren't we?" He nodded slowly.

"You were my first love, Hope. A part of me will always belong to you. We're linked forever through our children. But you and I have grown apart, and that's been happening since Zack. You know it has," he rushed on when she looked as though she would argue. "We haven't been the same since he died. We couldn't fix it. Ciara couldn't make it right. There are some things that love can't overcome."

"You're right," she said quietly. "I know you're right, but you're the only man I've ever loved, Brady, and damn it, this hurts like hell!" She began to weep once more, and though it made him sad, Bo was surprised to realize that for the first time in their life together, he didn't feel the need to try and fix her. After a few minutes, her tears subsided and she looked him in the eye.

"I asked Julie, you know, about you and Carly. I knew she'd tell me the truth."

"What did she tell you?"

"Julie said she'd never seen two people so in love. She told me how great Carly was to Shawn, how your parents loved her, how the whole freaking town seemed to think she walked on water. And she said when Carly left it nearly broke you."

"It did."

"I hope for your sake that she doesn't break your heart again," she said, then abruptly switched gears. "I won't interfere with you seeing Ciara."

"I know you wouldn't do that, Hope. You don't have that kind of cruelty in you."

" _But_ if you have plans with Carly and Ciara doesn't want to be there, I won't force her to come, either."

"Of course not," Bo agreed. "I would never want Ciara to feel like she _has_ to spend with time with me. It will always be her choice. She's the most important person in all of this. I know I speak for Carly when I say that we'll do everything we can to make her feel comfortable with all the changes."

"Even if it means she doesn't want to see you?" Hope asked, eyebrow lifted in a question.

"Even so. What ever Ciara needs, how ever much time or space she needs, she'll have it."

"So that's it, then. I'll have one of Uncle Mickey's partners draw up the papers and get a copy to you as soon as possible. Should I have them sent to your attorney?"

Bo shook his head. "Just put in whatever you think is fair. I'd like for us to share custody of Ciara, and I'd like to see her as much as you'll allow and she wants. I also want you to have the house, if you want it. It's Ciara's home, and I think she should have familiar surroundings. I think it would be best for her to be back in her own home. If you're in agreement, I'd like to move out so that you can move back in with her as soon as possible."

"Will you be moving in with Carly?" Hope asked the question as though she was a little afraid of the answer, but Bo shook his head.

"Not right away, no. Part of the terms of Carly's bail was that she stays away from me until the trial and Abe's little investigation into my involvement are complete. But once all this is cleared up, yes, she and I will find a place together."

"You're pretty confident that Carly will be acquitted, aren't you?"

"She won't have to be. I have a feeling that Melanie is going to see things from her mother's point of view very soon, and then she'll drop the charges. Once that happens, Abe can call off his dogs."

"What makes you think Melanie will change her mind?" Hope asked, slipping seamlessly into Detective mode.

"Let's just say that she'll soon know why Carly was forced to give her away. I think once she has all the facts, she'll understand things more clearly and be more receptive to her mother."

Hope nodded and didn't push, knowing instinctively from Bo's tone that she wouldn't get any more information from him on the subject. "I hope things work out for you the way that you want them to," she said, unable to meet his gaze.

"Thanks. One last thing; do you think we could talk to Ciara together? Maybe we could pick her up from kindergarten today and talk to her then?"

"All right, but she gets out today at noon. Can you break free?"

"Just come find me when you're ready to pick her up."

"I will. We'd better get back to the station," Hope said, glancing at her watch. Bo nodded and together they walked back to the station, just as silent as they'd been on the way to the waterfront.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

" _Today I took away Katerina's little insufferable daughter. The look of complete anguish on her face as she handed over the child to the couple I'd chosen brought me such satisfaction. Though part of me wishes that Katerina would have put up more of a fight; had she resisted my plan any further, I would have suffocated the useless girl right before her whoring mother's eyes._

 _"Alas, Katerina knew this, could see the truth of it in my eyes, and thus, she chose the only path available to her that would allow the evidence of her betrayal to continue to exist – for now."_

"Jesus Christ on a piece of toast!" Daniel exclaimed slamming shut the foul book.

"Oh, it gets better," Melanie told her father. "You can't imagine how much that asshole hated my mo – Carly. He raped her, beat her and berated her for years. And he gloated about it in these diaries of his." Daniel heard his daughter's voice, but his mind was still trying to process the furious words of Lawrence Alamain.

When Melanie had called him at 5:30 in the morning, waking him from a dead sleep and saying that she had to see him right then about Carly, he'd been prepared for another "Top Ten Reasons Why I Hate My Mother" tantrum. But this, this narrative of Lawrence's hideous treatment of Carly – well, he doubted that anything could have prepared him for that. "Where did you get these? Did Carly give them to you?" Even as he asked the questions, he knew in his heart that Carly would have moved heaven and earth to prevent Melanie ever reading something like this.

Melanie shook her head. "I had a visitor yesterday," she said and proceeded to tell him all about her run-in with her new-found brother, Nicholas. "And so reading his father's journals made him feel differently towards his – our – towards Carly." Melanie stumbled to get out the last few words. A large part of her so desperately wanted to embrace Carly as her mother now, but she was still so confused. "Nicholas thought they might have the same effect on me."

"Have they?" Daniel asked.

Melanie shrugged. "I honestly don't know. It…changes things, but I'm not sure how. That's why I called you. Sorry for dragging you out of bed so early, by the way. I figured we're in the same boat when it comes to Carly and that you'd be the only other person in the world who could help me process this new…information."

Closing his eyes, Daniel ran a hand over his face. "Jesus Christ on a piece of toast," he repeated, albeit more quietly than his earlier outburst.

"You said that already," Melanie pointed out.

"Yeah, well," Daniel said with a rueful smile. "I'm not exactly sure what _to_ say just now. It's a bit much to take in at once."

"Welcome to my world," Melanie said sweetly. "Now tell me what I'm supposed to do!" she practically wailed.

"You've read both of these?" Daniel asked, indicating the journals in his lap. At Melanie's nod, he continued, "In view of what you've learned, how do you feel about Carly now?"

"I feel…sympathy for her. But I'm also still _so angry_ that I had to grow up without a mother and father. Sympathy and anger don't make very good neighbors, and they're really battling it out inside of me right now." Daniel sensed that Melanie had already come to a decision, but that she needed to talk through it in order to accept it.

"Tell me what makes you sympathize so much with Carly," he suggested.

"She was raped, over and over," Melanie said in a small voice. "Just like me. She was abused and mistreated at the hands of someone who was supposed to love her, just like I was. And the worst part of it is she had to suffer that way because of me." Daniel's heart nearly broke at the pain in his daughter's voice. She and Carly resembled one another in so many ways, but none so much as their ability to take blame upon themselves for what others had done. He took Melanie's hands in his and marveled that she had his hands, only hers were smaller.

"Sweetheart, this is not your fault. What happened to your mother - that was all Lawrence Alamain. He hurt her because he was a sick and twisted man. It didn't have anything to do with you."

Melanie shook her head in disagreement. "He didn't hurt her like that until I was born. If she hadn't been pregnant and given birth to me, then he wouldn't have done…things to her." Melanie began to weep, leaving Daniel feeling completely helpless. For the first time since learning that Melanie was his daughter, Daniel wished that Carly was there with them, if only in the hopes that she could better comfort their grieving child.

"Listen, Melanie, listen. I think that Lawrence was hurting Carly even before you were born. The night we first met, Carly told me that she'd not been out in a while. She wore a wedding ring, but she didn't offer any explanations and to be truthful, I didn't ask any questions. She seemed kind of lost, though, and the next morning when she told me she was married, she said that her husband was sick and that he had changed since he'd fallen ill. I think he was hurting her even then. She told me that the medical conference was the first time he'd let her out unattended.

"We kept in touch for a few months, but then her phone calls and emails just stopped. I tried to get in touch with her, but I never could. That's why I was so surprised when she turned up in Salem, of all places. So you see, none of this is your fault. You were just as much a victim of Lawrence Alamain as Carly was."

"I don't like being a victim," Melanie said, fury and frustration evident in her voice.

"Neither do I," said a voice from the side door of Melanie's room. Daniel whipped around and saw Carly standing in the doorway. He'd never been so glad to see anyone in his life. When neither Daniel nor Melanie made an attempt to alert the guard at the other door to her presence, Carly stepped further into the room. "Look, I know I'm not supposed to be here unless you ask for me, but I took a chance that maybe you might want to talk to me. Do you?"

Melanie mutely nodded her head, and Carly stepped cautiously over to the bed, moving as though Melanie would run screaming from the room at any second. Daniel, finally regaining his own mobility, jumped up and offered his chair to Carly, taking a seat at the foot of Melanie's bed.

"How are you feeling?" Carly asked. "Are you…healing well?"

"I'm better. I'm ready to get out of here, though." All three were silent for several agonizing minutes until Melanie, who'd never done well with uncomfortable silences, blurted out, "You didn't want to give me away, did you?" Carly slowly shook her head.

"And you really didn't know what kind of man Trent Robbins was?" Again, Carly shook her head. "You wanted to keep me, but you couldn't because your husband said he'd kill me if you didn't give me away." This time Carly nodded as tears slipped down her cheeks.

"You were trying to protect me."

"That's all I've ever tried to do for you, Melanie," Carly spoke through her tears. "I'm afraid I haven't done a very good job of it."

Melanie surprised herself by taking Carly's hand. It was the first time she'd willingly touched her since learning that Carly was her mother. "You did. I survived. You survived. And we're here. The rest of it wasn't your fault. It was your husband's, and I'm glad you killed him. I'm glad he's dead because he hurt you so badly, because he kept us apart. I don't want him to keep us apart anymore."

Carly could no longer hold back. She reached out and pulled her baby to her, hugging her. Melanie's arms went around Carly's neck, and they both wept, all the pain they both felt flowing out with their tears. Daniel watched them through his own tears, then slowly got up and wrapped his arms around them both.

Some time later – it felt like hours, though Daniel knew it could have only been minutes – he felt both of their sobs subside and pulled back from them as they unfolded from one another. Carly ran her hands over Melanie's face, fingers tracing the features that were a perfect blend of her and Daniel. Melanie clutched at Carly's arms as though afraid if she let go her mother would disappear.

"My sweet baby girl," Carly whispered.

"Mama." Melanie spoke the simple word with such awe in her voice that both women were once again driven to tears. Carly moved onto the bed, and Melanie instinctively moved even closer to her so that she was resting against her mother's shoulder. The two spoke quietly together in hushed whispers that Daniel couldn't hear. The quietness did allow him to focus on the sounds coming from outside Melanie's room, however, and he instantly picked up on Phillip's voice edging closer to the door. Foreseeing a train wreck if Phillip found Carly in Melanie's room, he shot up and moved to the main door to intercept him.

"Daniel, hey, what are you doing here so early? Is Melanie all right? Is something wrong?" Phillip went from confused to concerned in three seconds flat. Daniel shook his head, taking Phillip's arm and steering him away from the door.

"Everything's fine, I just wanted to check on Mel before my shift. But, hey, I'm glad you're here. We need to go over some things."

Phillip eyed Daniel suspiciously. "I thought you said Melanie was fine."

"She is, Phillip, I swear, but please just come in here with me for a few minutes. Let's talk and then you can go see her for yourself." Daniel didn't wait for Phillip to answer, but dragged him bodily into the small waiting room.

"Daniel, what the hell is going on?" Phillip shouted, shrugging off his father-in-law's grasp.

"Look, Melanie really is fine, but she's talking to someone and I thought they could use a little more time alone."

"Who's she talking to?" Daniel didn't answer, only looked pointedly at Phillip. "Oh, hell, no!" Phillip exclaimed. "No way! That bitch isn't supposed to come near Melanie. I'll have her in jail so fast, her head will spin!" Phillip made a move towards the door, but Daniel blocked him.

"Do you love Melanie?" Phillip only blinked dumbly. "Do you love her?" Daniel repeated.

"What? Of course I love her. What does that have to do with anything?"

Daniel pushed his son-in-law into the nearest chair and said, "Good. Then sit down, shut up and listen. You can ask questions when I'm done." He then told Phillip everything about Lawrence's journals, Melanie's reaction, Carly's appearance and their tearful reunion. To his credit, Phillip sat quietly absorbing Daniel's story.

"All right, now you can ask your questions," Daniel said, opening the conversation up to Phillip.

"So you think Mel has finally accepted Carly as her mother?"

"Yes, they have a lot to work through, but yes, I think so."

"And Melanie seemed happy?"

"She was when I left."

"Well, that's all that matters, then. If Melanie wants Carly in her life, she'll be there. I won't interfere. What ever Melanie wants, she can have. I'll back her up no matter what she decides. Can I go see my wife now?"

Daniel nodded. "Thank you," he said as they walked out of the waiting room.

"For what?" Phillip asked.

"For taking care of my little girl."

"I love her," Phillip said by way of explanation. They had reached Melanie's door. Phillip knocked twice before pushing open the door. Carly and Melanie were lounging beside one another on the bed, laughing and talking, but both looked up when he and Daniel entered the room.

"Phillip," Melanie started, unsure as to how her husband would react to Carly's presence, but Phillip cut her off before she could explain.

"It's all right, Mel. Daniel told me everything." He turned to greet his mother-in-law, nothing but acceptance in his eyes. "Good morning, Carly. How are you?"

Mother and daughter beamed identical smiles at him as Carly replied, "I'm wonderful, Phillip, better than I've been in a long time." Melanie squeezed her mother's hand, and they both started crying again. Phillip waffled, unsure as to whether he should go to Melanie, but Daniel stopped him with a hand on his arm.

"Don't worry. They've been doing that all morning. Like I said, they've still got a lot to work through. Why don't we leave them alone for a while?"

"Good idea," Phillip said, nodding, but before they could exit, Melanie called for Phillip.

"I need you to get the DA on the phone. I want to change my statement and drop the charges."

"Done," Phillip assured her. "I'll take care of everything. You just…visit with your mom." Phillip kissed Melanie's forehead before he and Daniel headed out, leaving both women crying once more. Phillip had DA Woods's assistant on the phone before they reached the nurses' station. "I don't care what the man is doing. Tell him it's Phillip Kiriakis and get him on the phone right now. DA Woods, this is Phillip Kiriakis. My wife would like all charges dropped against Dr. Carly Manning immediately. That's right, that's what I said. Send them over now, then, just make it happen. Thank you, my family is very grateful for all your assistance."

"All taken care of," Phillip informed Daniel. "Let me just tell Mel." He stepped past the guard and back into Melanie's room. "Hey, Mel, the DA's going to take care of everything, but he's got to send one of his flunkies over here to take your statement for the official record. I told him the sooner, the better, yeah?"

Melanie smiled brightly. "Thanks, Phillip. Oh, hey, I'm starving. Will you go to Brady's…"

"And get you the Irish Breakfast?" Phillip finished with a laugh. "Of course, baby, what ever you want. Carly?"

"You know, that sounds great, thank you Phillip."

"Ladies, I'll be back later with your breakfast." When he was gone, Melanie turned back to Carly and started crying and laughing at the same time.

"Sweetheart, are you all right?"

"Yes," Melanie sniffled. "I'm just so happy! I just, for so long, I wanted a mother, and now I have you. I was so mad at first, but now that I understand why you gave me up…" Melanie dissolved into tears again before it changed over to laughter. "This is crazy! How can one person cry so much and want to laugh at the same time?"

Carly, crying and laughing, too, said, "I don't know, but as we've both fallen victim to the phenomenon, it must be possible. I'm happy, too, honey. I didn't dare dream that you'd ever let me in your life."

"I was so confused you know? But now that I understand where you were coming from, I know that you only did what you did to try and save me from your husband. How did you get mixed up with such a baddie anyway? I've so got to hear that story."

Carly shook her head and brushed the hair back from Melanie's face. "I promise I'll answer all your questions, tell you everything, but not today. I don't want to spoil our day by talking of unpleasant things. Now, tell me about you. I wanna know everything about you, baby."

"My favorite color is blue," Melanie said and Carly smiled.

"Mine, too," she said. And as simple as exchanging favorite colors, mother and daughter completed a bonding experience twenty years in the making. They talked and talked, swapping stories and facts that to an outsider would seem insignificant, but meant the world to the two women sharing them. Before they realized it, over two hours had passed. Their stomachs started rumbling at the same time, sending them into a fit of giggles, but alerting them nonetheless to the fact that Phillip had not yet returned.

"Let me call him," Melanie said reaching for her phone, but before she could dial Phillip's number, he came through the door, take-out boxes in tow. "Hey, what took you so long?"

"I'll explain later. You guys eat first," he said handing over two food trays and two steaming cups of coffee.

"Well, the food's still hot," Melanie said in between mouthfuls of bacon and eggs. "So you had to have just picked it up. What on earth were you doing?"

"I stopped by to inform my father that if he didn't get rid of his house guest, then you and I wouldn't be returning to the mansion."

"How did that go over?" Carly asked.

"About as well as you can imagine."

"I suppose it's too much to ask that Vivian would just go away like Nicky told her to," Carly grumbled.

"Yeah, about that, just before I left I overheard her talking to her on-call thug about how her nephew had "turned" on her. You'd better tell your son to watch his back. She had that tone in her voice that she usually reserves for discussions about you."

"I'll call Nicky and let him know, but we're going to have to do more than watch our backs when it comes to that woman. She's just as heartless as Lawrence, and she won't rest until she avenges his death."

"First thing's first, though," Melanie said. "Where are we going to live until we get rid of the Vivian infestation? Dad said I can probably get out of here tomorrow and after weeks in the hospital, I am _not_ going to a hotel."

"Stay with me," Carly blurted. Melanie blinked in surprise, but Carly rushed ahead. "The house that Nicky rented for us is huge. There are four other bedrooms besides the ones we're using. There's plenty of room. I mean, if you want to, that is," she finished uncertainly.

Melanie was certain of her answer, though, and exclaimed, "We'd love to, right, Phillip?" The question was directed at her husband, but Melanie didn't even look at him, to wit he determined his answer had better be yes. He agreed at once and Melanie clapped her hands in delight. "We'll have so much fun! We can talk and talk and really get to know each other!"

"Anything you want, sweetheart," Carly assured her. The older woman was smiling bigger than Phillip had ever seen, and it pleased him to see a similar smile on his wife's beautiful face. He meant what he had said to Daniel - if Melanie was all in with Carly, then so was he. Still, he'd treated his mother-in-law deplorably, and he felt he owed her an apology. _Best to get it over with now,_ he thought.

"Carly," he began, interrupting the two women's chatter. "Look, I'm not very good at apologies. In fact, I pretty much suck at them, but for what it's worth, I'm sorry for the way I treated you."

"You were protecting Melanie, Phillip. Don't ever apologize for that. I'm just glad that she has you in her corner."

"I love her," he said, repeating what he'd told his father-in-law earlier. "And I will do all I can to keep her safe, to keep you both safe. And on that note, I think I need to find my older brother and let him know what's going on. Can the two of you keep out of trouble while I'm gone?"

"Ha, ha, you're so funny," Melanie said in a tone that suggested she didn't find him funny at all.

"We'll do our best," said Carly. "But let me call Bo so he can yell at me in private for breaking the rules again by coming over here uninvited."

"Right, then; I've got a few things to take care of. I'll check with Daniel on my way out, see what we can do about getting you out of here, and I'll be back in a few hours." With that he kissed Melanie goodbye and left.

Carly took her phone from her pocket and got up from the bed to call Bo. He answered on the first ring. "Princess, where the hell have you been? Nick and I have been looking everywhere for you."

"I'm at the hospital with Melanie."

Silence ensued for a brief second, then, "I'm sorry, I could have sworn you said were with Melanie, but that would mean you'd violated the terms of your release, which I know you wouldn't do."

"Well, since I had already 'violated' _one_ of the bail conditions, I figured I'd just go for broke," Carly snarked.

"Look, just get the hell out of there before someone sees you."

Carly couldn't prevent the laughter that bubbled out of her. "Bo, it's fine, really. Melanie and I had a long talk and we're okay. In fact, she and Phillip are coming to stay with us when Daniel releases her tomorrow. That's why I was calling you…"

"Carly, are you drunk?" Bo asked. He couldn't believe she'd be drunk this early in the day, but it was a better notion than thinking she was completely delusional.

"No, Bo, I'm not drunk," Carly said exasperated. "Look call Phillip if you don't believe me, but Melanie and I worked things out. She's dropped the charges against me and we're waiting on someone from the DA's office to come and take her statement."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes! Bo, I have my daughter back," Carly said, tearing up again.

"I'm so glad, Princess," Bo said, wishing he could wrap his arms around her.

"So, listen, I'm going to hang out here with Melanie until Phillip gets back and then I'll be home to get things ready for them. Meet me there?"

"You know I will, but it may be late again. Hope and I had a long talk ourselves this morning and we're going to sit down with Ciara when she gets out of school and tell her that we're getting a divorce." When Carly didn't say anything, Bo worried that they might have gotten cut off. "Carly, are you there? Did you hear what I said?"

"I heard you – I just – you and Hope are getting a divorce?" she asked stupidly. A fog had settled in her brain, and she couldn't seem to force her way out of it.

"Princess," Bo said slowly. "You and I have been over this. I love you. I want to be with you. I want a future with you. Hope and I are done, but we both want to sit down with Ciara and explain things. As soon as we're finished, I'll come to you." He still didn't get a response from Carly. "Carly?"

"No, I'm here, I just – things are working out, Bo, all at once, and I, well, I guess I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. And I'm scared to death that it will drop in the form of Vivian."

"Hey, the bad times are ending. You and I will be together, you'll have your children and we're going to get Vivian. Look, I've got to go and meet Hope at Ciara's school. I'll get to you as soon as I can. Just visit with your daughter and try and forget about Vivian Alamain for a little while. Can you do that for me?"

"I'll try," she promised.

"Good, now call your son. He's worried sick about you. I'll see you later tonight. I love you, Princess."

"Love you, too, Baby," Carly said, hanging up the phone. She turned back to find Melanie smirking at her.

"Awww, my mom's in love with my brother-in-law!"

"And my daughter's a smart-ass," Carly shot back in the same sing-song voice.

"I think I get it honestly."

"That you do, my girl," Carly said, settling on the bed once more. "Now, where were we? Oh, shit! I've got to call Nicky!" she exclaimed dialing his number. She had a brief conversation with her son, and after assuring him, too, that she wasn't drunk _(why did everyone automatically assume she was sauced?),_ she promised to meet him back at the house later that afternoon and explain everything.

"All right, now that I've checked in with everyone, we can get back to our conversation." And that was just what they did, putting Vivian Alamain and her vengeful ways far from their minds for just a few brief hours. Around 2:00, an assistant district attorney showed up and deposed Melanie, and as he was leaving, Phillip returned with Daniel on his heels.

"Good news, Mel, Daniel says you're out of here first thing tomorrow."

"Oh, thank God!" Melanie squealed. "I can't wait to soak in a bathtub and sleep in a real bed!"

"Tomorrow night, you'll have both," Carly promised. "Now, I'd better get out of here so I can get your room ready." She leaned over to hug Melanie and kiss her on the forehead. "I'll be back in the morning, sweetheart." As she exited the room, Daniel took her elbow and walked with her to the nurses' station. He stared at his erstwhile lover for a long moment, unsure what to say. Finally, he grabbed her in a hug, nearly squeezing the breath out of her.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I was an ass, and I had no right to treat you the way I did."

"You had every right, Daniel," Carly protested as she pulled away from him. "I kept the knowledge of your daughter from you, and your reaction was perfectly understandable. It doesn't matter anyway. Melanie and I have turned the corner. I hope you and I can do the same. Friends again?"

"Friends," Daniel agreed.

"I'd better get going. I promised Nicky a full report, and I'm sure he's probably waiting at the door for me. I'll see you in the morning?"

"See you then."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Stretching out beside the man she loved, Carly privately thought that Bo's hands should have been illegal. At the very least, half of the things those hands had just done to her had to have broken some sort of law.

"I hope these walls are sound-proof," Bo told her smugly. "I'd forgotten how loud you can be sometimes."

"I didn't make that much noise," Carly protested.

"Oh, yes you did, especially there at the end, when you squealed. I'm pretty sure they heard you in the next town."

"I do not squeal."

"You squealed," Bo insisted while kissing the side of her neck. "But it's one of my most favorite sounds." He kept up his kisses until Carly no longer cared who heard her. She quickly lost herself in his touch and twined her body around his, bringing their lower bodies into closer contact. Bo slid inside her, thrusting slowly at first, then faster, over and over, until, past coherent thought, Carly did squeal. It didn't matter much to her, however, as her squeal triggered Bo's orgasm, which led to her own. Bo rolled onto his back, holding Carly in his arms.

"Okay, so I squeal," Carly admitted. Bo laughed and tightened his arms around her.

"It's all right, Princess. I'm happy to spend the rest of my life pulling that sound from you."

"Sweet talker," Carly snuggled happily into Bo's arms and rested her chin on his chest. "Care to discuss some of the sounds you make?"

"Discuss, no, but I'm open to a demonstration. Give me a few minutes to recover, though," he added with a grin.

"I'm so happy, Bo," Carly gushed. "I have you, and tomorrow night, both of my children will be together with me for the first time. I just can't believe things are finally working out!"

"Hey, didn't I tell you they would? You've got both your kids in your life and in thirty days, as far as I'm concerned, you and I can get on with our life together and finally have the future we started planning nearly twenty years ago."

"Bo, are you saying what I think you're saying?" Carly asked.

"If you think I'm saying that I want us to be married, then, yes." He looked deep into her eyes, making certain he had her full attention. "I want to marry you, Princess; just as soon my divorce is final. You and I have waited long enough. It's time we got our happy ending."

Carly couldn't prevent the tears that welled up and spilled down her cheeks. "Those are happy tears, I hope?" Bo asked uncertainly.

Carly nodded her head. "Definitely happy," she whispered. "I want to marry you more than anything, Bo." Bo broke out into a blinding grin and began raining kisses all over her face.

"But, wait, Bo, wait! Aren't you afraid this is moving a little too fast?" Carly asked, trying in vain to put some space between them so she could focus.

Bo was having none of it and merely hauled her back to his side. "Haven't we already had this conversation? 'We aren't exactly strangers' – is any of this ringing a bell in that pretty head of yours?"

"I know we aren't strangers, Bo, and I'd marry you tomorrow if we could. I was only thinking of Ciara. The divorce is a lot for her to accept. Do you really think it's wise to add our marriage to the pile of things she's going to be dealing with?" Her words stopped Bo's wandering hands in their tracks. He sighed heavily and pulled away from her.

"I don't know. You're probably right, you usually are," he added wryly. "Ciara seemed to handle things pretty well this afternoon, though. She wanted to know if she could still see me whenever she wanted and we both assured her that she could."

"Did she ask about…me?"

"She asked Hope if we were getting divorced because of you."

Carly swallowed hard. "And what was Hope's answer?"

"Hope said no. She told Ciara that Mommy and Daddy had been upset with each other for a long time and that you were a good friend of mine, but that you didn't have anything to do with us splitting up."

Carly refused to meet Bo's eyes. "That was…generous of Hope. She didn't have to say all that." Bo forced Carly to look at him.

"It's the truth, Carly. Don't take credit for other people's mistakes, okay?"

Carly nodded. "Still, it's going to be hard for Ciara to see her daddy with another woman. Besides, I don't think my wardrobe can take another hit," Carly added with a grin. "And you know how I hate to shop for clothes."

Bo laughed at that. "I think your wardrobe is safe, Princess. Ciara seemed to accept what her mom told her about you. And she was excited that she and Hope would be moving back into the house. She said she was ready to sleep in her own bed again. And I'm thrilled that she'll be out from under the same roof as Vivian."

Carly wrinkled her nose. "Don't say the "V" word. When will Hope and Ciara move back in?"

"As soon as I move out, but I've got to decide where I'm going."

"What do you mean? You're coming here," Carly said without hesitation.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course! Why on earth would you think I wouldn't want you to move in with me? Have I not spent the last few hours showing you how…overjoyed I am to have you as close to me as possible?"

"I know, but I just thought that with Nicky already here and Melanie and Phillip moving in, you might want some time with your kids without other people around."

"Bo, my daughter is a newlywed who spent her honeymoon in the hospital. I'm pretty sure there are going to be times when she doesn't want me anywhere near her. And you aren't 'other people.' You're my other half and you're moving in here. Phillip, Jack and Nicky can help you with your stuff tomorrow. Besides, I'm thinking of buying this place anyway, and I'd like for it to be our home from the beginning."

"It's awfully big, Princess. Are you sure we want something so large?"

"Look, Nicky and Carys will be back to visit…"

"Nicky and Carys?" Bo interrupted. "You sure about that?"

Carly's left eyebrow arched gracefully. "You said it yourself – I'm rarely wrong. Plus, Ciara needs plenty of room and there's a huge backyard that's practically a playground. And Shawn and Belle might pop in with Claire from time to time. Oh, and one other thing," Carly continued, pausing only to take a breath. "I think I might be pregnant."

As soon as she said them, Carly clapped a hand to her mouth as though she could catch the words and swallow them back down. She really hadn't meant to say anything, not until she was sure, and then only if she were pregnant. Meanwhile, Bo was opening and closing his own mouth in perfect imitation of a fish. Carly waited for his reaction, her heart in her throat, terrified that he would be upset. She needn't have worried, though, for when her news finally penetrated Bo's brain, he let out a whoop and grabbed her to him, laughing.

"So you're happy?" Carly asked, still needing to hear him say so.

"Happy doesn't cover it, Princess. Are you sure?"

"Pretty sure. I mean, I haven't peed on a stick or anything, but I'm late. I had chalked that up to stress, but then I got sick and it's happened several times. And I just, I don't know, I feel pregnant." Her breasts were tender and swollen nearly all the time and she had been achingly aware of her womb and its new inhabitant for several days. Bo slid his hand around her waist and down to her still-flat belly. He reverently rested his hand there and laid his head in her lap.

"Hey, there, little baby. This is your papa talking. Listen, your mama and I are very excited about you. I know you're very small right now and that you have lots of growing to do, but know that you are already loved and wanted. Now, take it easy on your mama and don't make her too sick or tired. There'll be plenty of opportunities to do both when you get to be a teenager."

Carly almost wept at Bo's words, but felt the need to gently remind him that they weren't certain she was in fact pregnant. "I'm 46, Bo. I could be starting some sort of wonky menopause or something." Bo steadfastly shook his head.

"You're pregnant. We'll confirm it tomorrow with your doctor when we go to pick up Melanie, but you are. We both know it."

"Okay, but let's not say anything to anyone else yet, not for a while. It's just that I can't be more than a few weeks along and it's so early. If something happened…" Carly trailed off, unable to voice her worst fears.

"Nothing will happen. You hear me, Baby?" Bo spoke once again to their offspring. "You stay tucked in there inside your mama and get big and strong. I won't settle for anything less."

"Are you really pleased? I know we weren't planning this and it isn't really a good time…"

"Princess, you're having my baby. Everything else will work itself out." He kissed her thoroughly then and drew her down to the bed with him, holding her close and softly stroking the skin over her womb where their child slumbered.

Nick found Carys out in the backyard, sitting on the swing set. Jack had already turned in and was presumably asleep. Nick, however, had been unable to do so, as he couldn't help but overhear his mother and Bo. As though he didn't already have enough to keep him in therapy for years…

Carys looked up when Nick sat down in the swing beside hers. "You couldn't sleep?" Nick shook his head, but didn't say anything. "Me, either; your mum's a bit…vocal."

"Yeah, don't remind me. But I'm glad she's got Bo. She deserves all the happiness she can get." Carys nodded her head and they sat in comfortable silence, enjoying the night breeze and most of all, the quiet.

"You know, Nick," Carys said after a few moments. "You deserve to be happy, too." He knew what she was referring to and purposely dodged her meaning.

"I am happy." Carys shook her head, a sad smile gracing her beautiful features.

"No you aren't. If you were, then you wouldn't push me away the way you do. You'd let me in and give us a chance."

"Carys, I love you, I do. You're my best friend in the world. No one knows me like you do. But I won't let myself get involved with you or anyone else, for that matter. I won't take a chance on hurting you down the road."

"I am hurting, Nicky. You know how I feel about you. I've made it abundantly clear on more than one occasion. Each time you rejected my feelings, you hurt me. But every time you call me to lean on when you're hurting, well, that breaks my heart. I can't keep putting the pieces back together. Eventually there won't be enough of it left."

Nick could feel Carys's eyes on him so he looked at the house, the ground, the trees, at everything but the piercing blue eyes of the woman he loved; the woman he would do anything to protect, even if it meant being separated from her. "I understand, Carys. I know what it took for you to come to Salem with me. But now that things are under control, I'll understand, too, if you want to leave. I was wrong to have asked you to come."

"I would have come by myself to try and help your mother, Nick. And I don't want to leave; I just want you to be honest with me. Tell me the truth. Why are you so afraid to be with me?"

"Because of my father, okay?" Nick practically shouted. "I won't make promises to you that I can't keep. I won't take the chance that one day I'll wake up out of my mind and turn on you the way my father did my mother. You mean too much to me to subject you to that!"

Carys got up and stepped in between Nick's legs. She lovingly stroked his face and looked deeply into his stormy green eyes. "Oh, Nick," she sighed. "That is complete and utter bullshit! Arrggh! You frustrate me to no end, Nicholas Alamain! So your father was insane – I don't even know who my father was! And my mother was a spoiled brat heiress who left my raising to my grandmother. I haven't even laid eyes on her since I was five. So you're family's crazy – everyone's family is. We don't have to be our parents, Nick.

"We only have to be us. We make our own fate, our own choices. Look at your mum, for heaven's sake; she didn't let all those years of torture at your father's hand break her. Nor is she letting what happened color her relationship with Bo. Why should you let it dictate your life? Your father went insane because he got a terrible disease that attacked his brain. That isn't going to happen to you!"

Nick pushed past Carys and began pacing round in circles. "Carys, my father was evil long before he got sick. Do you know that he chased my mother down when she was just 18 years old and lied to her for months about who he was? That was why she left him when she was pregnant with me – because she learned his true identity. And then after he rescued my mother when my barmy aunt buried her alive, he let Mom believe that same lie again and tried keeping her locked away so that Bo couldn't find her.

"I've got the blood of Lawrence Alamain running through my veins. What if I have his evil nature, too?" he asked in a voice so filled with angst that Carys felt her heart break all over again. She ran to him and threw her arms around him.

"You've not got an evil bone in your body, Nick. You're the most generous and kind man that I know, and you could never be capable of the malice that your father doled out. I know this because I love you, and I'm not foolish enough to waste my love on a man who isn't worthy of it."

"I still might hurt you," Nick said, but he was tightening his arms around her as he spoke.

"You might," Carys allowed, fiddling with some invisible lint on his t-shirt. "Or after we've been married ten years, I might take a fancy to the gardener and run off, breaking your poor and fragile heart into itty-bitty pieces," she said to lighten the mood. It was working as Nick's mouth turned up slightly at one corner.

"The gardener, huh? As much as you love the pool, I'd bet it would be the pool boy."

"One never knows – I might run off with them both." Nick threw back his head and laughed.

"So in this little scenario of yours, we'll have been married ten years, you said?"

"I did say ten, yes."

"Then I'd better practice," Nick said, bringing his face closer to Carys's.

"Practice what?" she asked, their lips nearly touching.

"Kissing the bride," he whispered and claimed her mouth with his own, the night stars shining down on their love.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Carly rinsed her mouth a final time; then stared at her reflection in the mirror. Said reflection left quite a bit to be desired at the moment. Five minutes ago, she'd been content in Bo's arms when morning sickness had reared its ugly head. She'd barely made it to the bathroom before losing what seemed to be every bite of food she'd swallowed over the past twenty-four hours. Now, she was sweaty and pale, still reeling from the after-effects of the nausea.

She made it back to the bed and collapsed in a heap, effectively rousing Bo from sleep. He rolled over and tenderly stroked the skin of her back. "Sick?" he asked unnecessarily. Carly nodded, instantly regretting the action, as it brought back the nausea in full force.

"Pregnancy has many wonderful aspects," she informed him sourly. "Morning sickness is not one of them."

"Is there anything I can do?" Bo asked, wanting to ease her discomfort.

"It'll pass. With Nicky and Melanie, I learned it was best to just throw up and get it over with. I'll be fine in a few minutes." She lay quietly, concentrating on her breathing, and sure enough, the nausea ebbed and she was able to roll over and face Bo without the room spinning. "See? All better," she proclaimed, smiling.

"I'm glad. Today will be a good day, and I want you to be able to enjoy it."

At the thought of the day's activities, Carly immediately brightened. "I can hardly believe that by the end of the day, I'll have both of my children and you under the same roof. It seems too good to be true! And the thought of another baby, of our baby," she trailed a hand down her abdomen where she was certain now that their child was growing. "How did I get so lucky?"

"I'm the lucky one," Bo told her, covering her hand with his. "But if we're going to get this day started, we have to get out of bed first."

"But why?" Carly whined, nestling closer to Bo. "Bed is such a good place to be."

"Save it for later, Princess. We've got to get you checked out by a doctor, get my stuff out of the house and settle Phillip and Melanie, all before the sun sets."

"All right, all right, I'm getting up. But I reserve the right to pick up tonight where we left off this morning."

Bo feigned ignorance of her meaning. "What, with you puking your guts out?"

"Ha, bloody, ha. You're a riot." Together they made the bed; then Carly hopped in the shower first. She wasn't alone for long; she was rinsing her hair when she felt Bo's arms wrap around her from behind.

Quite a bit later, they emerged from their bedroom together and ran into Jack coming from his own room, grumbling about people who took marathon showers and running out of hot water.

"Morning, Jack," Bo greeted the lawyer, trying to keep a straight face.

"Morning. I hope you guys were lucky enough to get hot showers. Some yahoo used all the hot water before I could get to mine."

"The nerve of some people," Carly supplied sympathetically. Jack looked at her to say something further, and it was then he picked up on the mischievous glances between Bo and her. Instantaneously discerning that the couple in front of him was the cause of his cold shower, Jack rolled his eyes and stomped down- stairs, muttering under his breath. Carly actually blushed and Bo began laughing.

"Come on," Carly ordered, tugging on Bo's hand and pulling him after her. "Let's go before you get me in any more trouble."

"Me? I'm not the one seducing people in showers."

"Hey! I was taking a shower, minding my own business, when someone… distracted me!"

"I didn't hear any complaints while this alleged distraction was taking place," Bo pointed out. He pulled her to him by the belt loops on her jeans.

"I'm not complaining about the…distraction," Carly murmured as Bo placed strategic kisses on her neck. "I just don't particularly want my son and his friends to know that I was distracted."

"Too late!" Nicky shouted as he and Carys bounded down the stairs, holding hands – Carly did a little internal happy dance at that. "We already got the audio last night. We can certainly do without the visual." Carly's eyebrows crawled to her hairline and her face went beet red. Nicky and Carys continued past them into the kitchen, leaving Carly speechless and Bo laughing.

"Carys, where's breakfast?" They heard Jack ask from the kitchen. "I'm starving!"

"Sorry, Jack," Carys offered while rattling pots and pans. "I was a bit distracted this morning." At that, Carly laughed out loud and she and Bo finally entered the kitchen, too. Jack was drinking coffee at the bar, complaining about hormonal couples. Carys was throwing together a quick breakfast of eggs and toast while Nicky stood at the bar opposite Jack, cutting up fruit. The smell of the eggs set Carly's stomach growling. It amazed her that she could be nauseated one moment and utterly starving the next – one of the many mysteries of pregnancy.

Bo had automatically poured her a cup of coffee, but she declined it with a slight shake of her head. Realizing his mistake, he went to the fridge and poured a large glass of orange juice for her instead. Carly sipped her juice, mentally comprising a list of reasons she could offer if anyone were to notice that she was not enjoying her morning cup of coffee. Thankfully her son and his friends were all so intent on their own caloric intake that they failed to notice anything else.

While they ate, they hashed out a plan for the day. Carly and Bo would go to the hospital to pick up Melanie and Phillip. They would then go to Victor's – oh, yippee! Carly thought sarcastically – to get Phillip and Melanie's things and bring them back to the house. Meanwhile, Carys would ready a room for Phillip and Melanie. They would then repeat the process at Bo's, but this time everyone would be pitching in. Satisfied that they could finish before nightfall, Carly and Bo headed to the hospital.

Carly called her friend, Dr. Anne Snow, on the way and asked if she could squeeze her in first thing. "Sure, is everything all right?" Anne inquired.

"Well, I think so," Carly hedged. "I'm pregnant - at least I think I am." Anne didn't inquire further, merely instructed Carly to meet her in Exam Room 1 of her office.

"I'll do the blood test myself."

"Thanks, Anne," Carly said, hanging up.

"So how do you know this woman again? She's new on staff, right?"

"Yes, we went to medical school together, and she just transferred to Salem last month. We've only seen each other a few times since she got into town, but she's one of the best OB/GYN's I know. Plus, she's a friend. I've been kind of short on those lately."

Bo squeezed her hand and gave her a smile before turning his focus back to the road. "Not anymore, Princess. Things are looking up."

"Congratulations!" Anne said, beaming at Bo and Carly. "You are indeed pregnant. Based on the dates you gave me, I'd say you're six weeks along. If you've got a few extra minutes to spare, I'd like to perform an ultrasound just to confirm a date and make sure everything looks good."

"Whatever we need to do, Doctor," Bo answered. "I want you to do everything you can to make sure Carly and the baby are healthy."

"Great! Am I to assume that you'd like to keep things under wraps until you get a little further along in your pregnancy?" Anne asked, knowing the level of gossip that traveled among the hospital staff regarding other staff members.

"We'd like to get through the first trimester, just to get past the immediate danger of a miscarriage," Carly told Anne. She'd told Bo the same thing, and while it was the truth, there were also the minor details of informing their families and the world at large about the coming baby that made Carly hesitant to shout her news from the rooftops. She was flat out scared to death of other people's reactions.

Anne checked her watch. "I tell you what. I still have about thirty minutes until my next appointment. Why don't we slip into one of the ultrasound rooms and I'll handle it myself? That will go a lot farther in ensuring that we keep your pregnancy quiet."

"Thanks, Anne, you're a lifesaver." Together they made their way down the hall to an empty room. Anne handed Carly a sheet and instructed her to slip off her bottoms.

"At this stage of a pregnancy, a vaginal ultrasound gives us the best view of the fetus." Carly went to the adjoining bathroom and slipped off her panties and jeans, returning to Bo and Anne with the paper sheet wrapped around her lower half. She crawled onto the table and placed her feet in the stirrups and Anne began the scan. Anne prodded around Carly's insides with the ultrasound wand and made notes using the machine's keyboard with her other hand. Carly didn't realize she was holding her breath until Anne broke out in a winning smile and announced, "There's your baby!" She pointed toward a tiny dot on the computer screen. "See that little fluttering motion? That's the heart beat. It's hovering around 100, and that is perfectly normal at this stage." Anne punched a few buttons and some pictures began to print. She removed the wand and patted Carly's leg, letting her know she could sit up now. Bo helped her and the two of them stared, mesmerized, at the pictures Anne handed to them.

"That's us, Princess," Bo whispered to Carly. "We made this little person, you and me."

"I just can't believe it, Bo. After all these years, we're finally together and we're having a baby." They looked deeply into one another's eyes, the love between them so palpable that it filled the exam room and left Anne feeling like a voyeur. She cleared her throat to get their attention, and Carly turned her head slowly in Anne's direction.

"Everything looks perfect, Carly. Based on the ultrasound, I'm estimating a due date of November 9th. You'll have a new baby just in time for Thanksgiving. Now, I want you to start these prenatal vitamins today. If they aggravate the morning sickness, you can try them at night before you go to bed. If the nausea gets too bad, I can give you some Zofran to help. It's perfectly safe in pregnancy and many of my patients report that the nausea disappears completely. Do you want me to go ahead and prescribe some?"

"I'll wait. It hasn't been that bad yet, and I'd prefer not to take any medications that aren't necessary."

"If you change your mind, just drop in any time and I'll give you the prescription. I'd like you to come back four weeks from today. I'll make the appointment for you before I see my next patient." Anne paused and made a few notes on Carly's chart. "All right, you're free to go. And congratulations once again. I'm so happy for you, Carly," Anne said, and giving Carly's hand a squeeze, she left the room.

Carly slid off the table and headed towards the bathroom to get dressed just as Bo's phone rang. He checked the caller ID. "It's Hope," he told her.

"Well, answer it,"Carly said, closing the door.

"Hello."

"It's me. I got your message. What's up?" Bo mentally slapped himself. He'd completely forgotten that he'd left Hope a message late last night after he and Carly had talked.

"Right, sorry, I meant to call you back this morning, but something else came up. Listen," he started, wanting to get the conversation over with as quickly as possible. "I'm sure it will be in the news today, but Melanie dropped the charges against Carly yesterday. Melanie's getting out of the hospital this morning and she and Phillip are going to move in with Carly until we can solve the Vivian problem."

Hope was silent, not exactly certain what Bo wanted her to say. She settled for asking a question. "Well, what does any of that have to do with me?"

Bo took a deep breath. No matter his love for Carly, he didn't want to intentionally hurt Hope, but he also knew there was no way to avoid it. "Since the charges against Carly were dropped, there isn't going to be an investigation into my involvement. So I'm moving in with her. Today. That's why I called – to let you know that I'll be out of the house by tonight. You and Ciara can move back in whenever you'd like."

"Don't you think you're moving a little too fast?" Hope asked. She was thankful that they were discussing this via phone so that Bo couldn't see the tears spilling down her cheeks. She knew in her head that she and Bo were done. She'd already started the divorce proceedings. But her heart still cried out for the only man she'd ever loved. And he had moved on, leaving her behind.

"Hope, I only called to let you know the house is yours after tonight. I know I don't have the right to ask you for any favors, but please get Ciara out of Victor's and away from Vivian as soon as you can. The woman is unstable and dangerous, and I'd prefer that neither of you was anywhere near her when she snaps."

"All right," Hope answered, still trying to disguise the fact that she was crying. "Ciara and I will move back…home…over the weekend." _Home? How can it be home without you, Brady?_ Hope wondered.

"Great." Just then Carly came out of the bathroom and walked over to him. He took her hand and told Hope, "I've got to go now. I'll…talk to you later," he finished rather awkwardly.

"Yeah, me, too. I'm actually on my way to an appointment." Then she disconnected the call and did her best to repair the damage to her face.

Bo slid his phone back in his pocket, gave Carly a quick kiss, and the two of them walked down the hall towards the elevators hand in hand. They rounded the corner and ran smack into Hope, who was just exiting the elevator. She took in their joined hands and smiling faces and wanted nothing more than for the ground to open up at her feet and swallow her whole.

 _Fuck_ , Carly thought. _Fuckity, fuck, fuck._ Of all the people in Salem to run into here, now, of course it would be Hope Brady. Bo was giving a passable impression of a dear in the headlights so he wasn't going to be much help. Unable to come up with anything better Carly said, "Hope."

"Carly." Hope answered back, and if ever looks could kill, Carly would certainly be dead at Hope's feet from the glare the other woman was giving her. As it was, Carly was fervently thankful that she had slipped the ultrasound photos into her purse before she and Bo had left the room.

"What are you doing here?" Hope asked suspiciously. They were, after all, standing at the entrance to the largest OB/GYN practice in the hospital.

"Check-up," Carly answered. "You?"

"The same," Hope replied.

The sound of their voices seemed to draw Bo out of his stupor and he reached out and punched the down button to call the elevator. _Thank you, God_ , Bo thought when the doors instantly opened up. He practically shoved Carly into the elevator in his haste to get the two women apart before Hope put two and two together and came up with four – he could already see her detective's mind working.

"See you later, Hope. I'll get with you later today about Ciara. I'd like to see her this weekend if that's okay." He said this just before the doors closed.

"Oh, God," Carly moaned. "When we turned the corner and saw her, I thought I was going to throw up!"

"You? I thought I was gonna hurl!"

"Do you think she suspects anything?" Carly asked. The last time Hope had discovered one of her secrets, she'd let it slip to Victor and Carly had wound up in jail.

"Oh, I'm sure she does, but she won't say anything."

"That was what you said when she found out I was back in Salem. Need I remind you that the last time you thought Hope wouldn't 'say anything' I ended up in one of your jail cells, Commissioner?" Recognizing the signs of a full-on Carly-fit brewing, Bo worked quickly to diffuse the situation.

"Princess, so what if she figures it out? Even if she told the whole world about us, in the end it won't matter. You and I are together and we're having a baby. I don't really care who knows it." He slipped his arms around her, his touch automatically soothing her frayed nerves.

"Even if she tells Ciara first?"

Bo exhaled loudly. "I don't think she'd do that, but you know what, even if she did, it won't change anything. Ciara is my daughter, too, and once things settle down, she'll be excited about a new little brother or sister. You'll see." He dropped a kiss on her forehead just as the elevator doors opened up. "Now let's go get your daughter and bring her home."

Bo and Carly pulled into the driveway behind Phillip and Melanie, the shadow of the Kiriakis mansion looming over them. Carly's stomach was roiling as Bo parked the car. They joined Phillip and Melanie on the walk and as a unit, moved to the front door. Phillip opened it and they all filed in behind him. Carly half-expected Vivian to jump from the shadows wielding a knife at her. Only silence greeted them.

Phillip turned to Melanie and said, "Bo and I will go upstairs and get our bags. You and Carly wait here. We'll be right back." He and Bo took off up the stairs. No sooner had they disappeared from view than Victor and Vivian came walking down the hallway. They stopped short at the sight of the two women standing in the foyer. Carly's back went ramrod-straight and she surreptitiously moved so that she was slightly in front of Melanie. Victor was the first to speak.

"Well, well. Melanie, I'm glad to see that you're well enough to be released from the hospital, though the company you're keeping does lead me to wonder about the state of your mental faculties."

Melanie stiffened, but Carly placed a hand on her daughter's arm. "Save your breath, Victor. We're only here to get Phillip and Melanie's things. We'll be out of your hair shortly." She waived a hand at Vivian and continued, "Then you and your little consort can plot my demise to your shriveled hearts' content."

"Do you mean to tell me that you've actually convinced my son and his wife to move in with you?"

"Even better, Victor. Bo is moving in with us. Tell me, how does that sit with you?"

Victor snorted in disgust. "Please. Bo may trifle with you, but in the end, he will return to his wife. A trollop like you can't hold a candle to a woman of Hope's caliber." At Carly's silence, Victor gave a gleeful laugh. "What, no witty come-back? You're slipping, Carly." Just then Phillip and Bo returned with the bags.

"Step back, Victor," Bo ordered, putting himself between Carly and Victor.

"Bo, really, I can't believe you've allowed yourself to be ensnared by this woman again. Have you taken complete leave of your senses?"

Bo gave a smile that really didn't reach his eyes and placed an arm around Carly, pulling her to his side. She went willingly. "Listen closely, Dad, because I'm only going to say this once. I'm in love with Carly. We're going to be married as soon as possible. None of your little snide remarks is going to change that. You can accept it, or you can stay the hell out of my life. Either is fine by me. And as for you," Bo turned his attention to Vivian who had been watching Carly with undisguised abhorrence on her face. "If Carly or Melanie so much as comes down with a case of the sniffles, I'm holding you personally responsible. They are under my protection, and I will take it as a personal offense should anything happen to them. Do you understand?"

"Perfectly," Vivian answered coldly.

"You ready, Phillip?" Bo asked his little brother. Phillip nodded and said, "Let's get out of here." The two men collected the bags between them and led the women out of the house. They started towards the cars, but Carly veered sharply to the right and promptly threw up all over Victor's prized rose bushes.

Bo dropped the bags he was carrying and went to her, holding her hair back from her face. When she rose up, she laughed a little and said, "Damn! It's a shame I didn't do that all over Victor's Persian rug. It would have been worth it just to see the look on his face." She wiped her mouth on the back of her hand and allowed Bo to lead her back to the car where Melanie stood, concern for her mother evident on her face.

"Carly, are you all right?" Melanie asked as she opened the door for her mother to sit down. Carly nodded, falling gratefully into the passenger seat.

"I'm fine, Sweetheart. The Gruesome Twosome was a little too much to handle on an empty stomach, that's all." Carly gave her a reassuring smile and Melanie relaxed immediately.

"Okay, then," Phillip said and slammed the trunk on his car. "Who's for getting the hell out of here?"

Carly and Melanie's hands shot into the air simultaneously, making Phillip and Bo grin. Getting into their respective cars, they pulled out of the driveway, glad to be away from Victor and Vivian.

Inside the mansion, Victor poured himself a large whisky and drank it in one shot. Plunking the glass down on the table, he turned to Vivian and unleashed his temper. "How many opportunities, Vivian, did you have to rid us of the nuisance that is Carly Manning?"

Vivian fretted nervously with the buttons on her jacket. "Now, Victor, you know that I was trying to find a way to make Carly miserable, not kill her outright. And because of that…"

"And because of that," Victor roared. "That woman has just left my house with both of my sons in her clutches! How am I supposed to accept that, Vivian? Because of your need to make Carly suffer for killing your idiot nephew, you've allowed her to worm her way into Bo's – and from the look of things – Phillip's good graces. What are you going to do about it, Vivian? I am not well pleased with you at the moment. How are you going to rectify this situation?"

"I'll…think of something," Vivian answered. She'd have to come up with something fast judging by the furious glances Victor was casting her way. Yes, it seemed as though she'd have to forego her plan to make Carly Manning suffer – she'd have to kill the woman. There was no help for it now.

"Do it quickly and cleanly, Vivian," Victor ordered. "I'll not clean up another of your messes," he informed her, referring to the debacle she'd made of her attempt on Melanie's life. "I want that woman gone, one way or another. Am I getting through to you?"

"Of course, Victor, I'll do as you wish. Ending Carly's life is what I should have done in the beginning. I see that now."

"Good. Don't lose sight of your new goal, Vivian, not if you wish to keep me enthralled with you. And above all, don't muck it up!" Vivian merely nodded and scurried out of the room. She had to find Gus and come up with a plan. Killing Carly would no doubt bring Bo's wrath down on her, but she'd have to look to Victor for protection. It was time to end her feud with Carly Manning once and for all.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

The moving experience had been far more pleasant at Bo's. Carly packed his clothing into the suitcases Bo gave her while he collected a few pictures of his children and granddaughter. He left behind any that had Hope in them. Carly didn't comment, but he knew she noticed.

It took three trips back and forth, but by that afternoon, Bo closed up the box he had been packing and declaring it to be the last, handed it to Nick to load into one of the cars. After the second trip, Carys, Melanie and Carly had remained behind at Bo and Carly's to begin the unpacking process and prepare dinner. Bo and Phillip both remarked to Nick and Jack that it would be better for them all if Carly and Melanie did the unpacking and left the kitchen duties to Carys. Otherwise, Bo had said, they'd likely starve.

"You aren't kidding," Nick replied. "My mother has one claim to fame in the kitchen and you can only eat so many blueberry pancakes."

"Melanie once burnt water," Phillip offered and they all laughed.

Apparently mother and daughter had quite a bit in common. Jack, Nick and Phillip walked out to the loaded-down cars, and Bo looked around a final time at the home he had shared with Hope for so many years. He expected to feel some sadness and was surprised to realize that the only emotion he really felt was anticipation to get home to Carly.

Home to Carly, he really liked the sound of that. Smiling to himself, he slipped the door key off his key chain and laid it on the mantle where Hope could find it. Then he closed the door on his past with Hope and getting into his car, drove towards his future with Carly.

Back at the house, Carly and Melanie were indeed unpacking while Carys cooked. No sooner had the men left, then Carys shooed the other two women out of what she privately thought of as her domain. She'd decided on steamed vegetables and Greek chicken with fresh fruit and her grandmother's chocolate cake for desert. Though Carly and Melanie both had offered to assist, Carys could work better and faster alone and told them so. Giving in rather quickly, Carly and Melanie dispersed to see to the unpacking, and Carys set to work.

Alone in the kitchen, Carys couldn't keep the smile from her face. After the night she'd shared with Nick, she felt as though the world had been laid at her feet. Though nothing was official yet, she knew in her heart they would soon be married. When she'd left Alamania with Nick to come to Carly's rescue, Carys had never dreamed that things would come together so quickly and as well as they had done.

Of course, there was still Nick's half-mad aunt to contend with – a subject that was certain to make it to the top of the evening's conversation. They had to come up with a solution; else the batty old woman would devil Carly and everyone she loved to no end. Jack was working on some sort of legal maneuver that Carys couldn't even pretend to understand, but she feared that this was the kind of problem that would only be solved with violence.

Though not a violent person by nature, Carys readily admitted that there were times when it was the only answer. She felt that this would be one of those instances. As she cooked – a task she found cathartic – she prayed that they would all come out on the winning side of the conflict.

"That's the last of it," Melanie announced. She and Carly had started in the room that would be hers and Phillips, Carly having decided that she and Bo could sort through his things later.

"Good. Now you can rest," Carly told her daughter.

"I don't need to rest," Melanie argued. "I feel fine."

Carly shook her head at Melanie's stubbornness. "I know you feel fine now but this is the most you've exerted yourself in weeks. You'll be out cold on the floor if you don't slow down."

"Look who's talking," Melanie protested. "I'm not the one retching in people's flower beds. If either of us should rest, it's you. What was up with that anyway?"

"I told you," Carly said, not quite meeting Melanie's eyes. "I was so keyed up this morning that I forgot to eat. The round with Victor and Vivian just shook me up a little more than I cared to admit. I have a bit of a nervous stomach. I hope you didn't inherit it from me, by the way."

Melanie shook her head and patted her stomach. "Nope, cast iron. Must have gotten it from Daniel. Speaking of family traits, why the hell am I so short? You and Daniel are both relatively tall. What happened to me?"

Carly shrugged. "Recessive genes? My mother was barely five feet and my little brother isn't much taller than you."

Melanie seized on this new bit of family history. "You have a brother? I have an uncle? What's his name? Where is he? Can I meet him?" Carly laughed at her daughter's excitement and waived a hand in her face to slow her down.

"His name is Frankie and he's in Europe. I haven't seen him for a very long time, but I know he'd love to meet his niece."

Melanie noticed the slight hint of sadness in her mother's voice and asked, "Did Lawrence keep you from him? Is that why you haven't seen him in so long?"

"Yes, but those times are over. We all have a chance at a new life, and I, for one, am going to take it. How about you?" Melanie beamed at her mother and felt tears start to gather in her eyes. She went to Carly and hugged her, whispering, "Definitely."

Carly and Melanie entered the kitchen, a little teary-eyed, but immensely happy and bound and determined to assist Carys in some way with the dinner preparations.

"After all," Melanie had reasoned. "You're a surgeon. Surely you can…chop vegetables or something. And I can wash them off. I don't think we can mess that up." Both had acknowledged that they were basically lost in the kitchen.

So they had bounded down the stairs and into the kitchen, only to find Carys contentedly sipping a cup of hot tea, dinner well under way. "Isn't there something we can do?" Melanie asked.

"Yes," Carys said, filling two cups with hot tea and passing them to Carly and Melanie. "You can sit and have a cup of tea with me."

"Tea?" Melanie wasn't much for iced tea, never mind hot, but she sat down anyway and accepted the cup from Carys. Carly was already loading hers down with honey and lemon so Melanie followed suit, though she did add a healthy dose of sugar for posterity.

"Hot tea is so relaxing," Carys was saying and Carly nodded her head in agreement. Melanie sipped hers gingerly at first but quickly decided it wasn't too bad. Then, eyeing the tall red-head seated next to her, Melanie dove right in head first.

"So what's up with you and my brother? I mean, you're together aren't you? Or are we supposed to believe that you're just friends?"

Carys's face turned the exact shade of her hair and she turned to Carly, who merely arched an eyebrow.

"I'm afraid tact doesn't run in the family," Carly offered by way of excuse. Carys cleared her throat and turned her attention back to Melanie.

"I've known Nick since we were fifteen. We went to the same boarding school, and we've been best friends ever since."

"Right…and you've been in love with him, how long exactly?"

Carys paused a long moment before answering, "About fifteen minutes after I met him." She whipped around to address Carly. "But we've only recently admitted our feelings to each other." Carys was the color of a tomato and Carly patted her hand in an attempt to put her at ease.

"Honey, I've watched you with my son for years. I'm only surprised it didn't happen sooner, and I'm thrilled about it." Carys exhaled gratefully. In truth, she had expected to have Carly's support, but discussing one's love life with the mother of one's lover was bit disconcerting. Throw a sister into the mix and it became downright uncomfortable. Deciding to turn the tables on Melanie, Carys asked how long she and Phillip had been together.

"Um, just since Christmas or so," Melanie said vaguely. "But we've known each other for a while."

The romantic in her sensed a good story. "So when did you know he was the right one for you?"

"I just…knew," Melanie said, meeting her mother's eyes. "I was involved with someone else, but it didn't work out. Phillip had asked me out a couple of times, but I kept refusing. He asked me to go away with him for Christmas and he finally wore me down because I said yes. He proposed almost right away and I agreed."

"A whirl-wind romance," Carys sighed breathlessly. "That's so exciting!" Carys and Melanie's eyes met and as one they turned to Carly.

"What?" she asked.

"Oh, come on," Melanie said, exasperated. "Fess up. We spilled our guts. It's your turn."

"Oh, no," Carly protested, comprehension dawning on her at last. "I'm your mother and probably your soon-to-be mother-in-law. I'm exempt," she finished, proud of her logic. But Melanie and Carys only looked at each other and shook their heads.

"Oh, yes," Melanie insisted. "It's only fair. I think we both deserve the low-down on you and Bo."

"Fine," Carly huffed, sensing that the girls would not leave off until she told them what they wanted to hear. Launching into her story, she gave them a brief synopsis of her past with Bo, skimmed a bit on the details of how she ended up with Lawrence and ended with her renewed relationship with Bo.

"You never stopped loving him, did you?" Melanie asked when Carly finished.

"No. Not really," Carly admitted. "But I honestly had no intention of getting involved with him when I came back. I knew he was married to Hope, and I was just praying that he would be willing to help me protect you. I didn't set out to wreck his marriage."

"Pfft," Melanie dismissed her mother's concerns with a wave of her hand. "I know you didn't. And I'm sorry for all the hurtful things I said to you about them. The truth is, I got to witness some of the more spectacular blow-ups Bo and Hope had and honestly, their marriage was on the rocks long before you turned up on the doorstep. I can't tell you how many times Hope would come crying to Maggie, whining about how Bo didn't understand her. Trust me, they were doomed."

"Well, still," Carly said uncertainly. "I do feel some sense of responsibility towards ending their marriage."

"You shouldn't feel guilty for being happy," Melanie insisted. "You and Bo are obviously meant for each other. Even Hope could see it. That's why she was so bent out of shape over you from the beginning. I heard her talking to Julie about you and Bo when Mickey died. Julie told her how in love you and Bo had been and how devastated he was when you left. Hope told Julie that she didn't feel her relationship with Bo could compete with yours."

"And what did Julie say?"

"Well, I didn't hear everything, but the gist I got was that Julie didn't contradict her, only told her to fight with everything she had if she wanted to keep Bo."

Carly took a moment to digest that bit of information. A long time ago, she had counted Julie Williams as a dear friend. Still, Julie was Hope's sister so Carly found it odd that Julie would tell Hope how in love Bo had been with another woman. Melanie took in the far-away look on Carly's face and worried that she might have gone too far.

"I'm sorry, Carly. I didn't mean to upset you."

"It's all right, sweetheart. Regardless of the path, the outcome is the same. Bo and I are together now, and that's how it's going to stay." The three women were quiet until the timer on the oven went off and startled them. Carys leaped up and took the chicken out of the oven. She busied herself with covering the dishes to keep them warm, the hum of Carly and Melanie's conversation a pleasant background noise.

The peace of the kitchen was broken by the men returning home, each of them carting as many boxes as he could carry. Bo went to Carly, dropping down on one knee so he could kiss her.

"Dinner smells great, Carys. When do we eat?" This came from Nick as he reached her side and kissed her cheek, the promise of more to come in his eyes.

"Now, if you like. Then we can unload the rest of the boxes." Everyone was in agreement with her suggestion and promptly set to filling plates and glasses. The dinner conversation was intentionally kept light, no one wishing to ruin such a lovely meal with any of the unpleasant topics looming ahead for the little group.

After dinner, Carly and Melanie cleaned up the kitchen, while the men brought in the remainder of Bo's belongings, with Carys acting as supervisor. At last, the boxes were all moved into one of the empty bedrooms for Bo and Carly to sort through later, the kitchen was spotless, and everyone assembled in the sitting room to discuss the problem at hand.

"So what are we going to do about Vivian?"

"Lock her in a padded cell?" Melanie offered. "Seriously, the woman has taken the train to Crazy Town a few too many times."

"Not a bad idea, but the problem lies in getting her in the cell. Legally, she's done nothing that can land her in jail for any length of time," Jack explained.

"But she tried to kill me!" Melanie protested. "And she buried Carly alive, not to mention she kidnapped Nick when she was a baby. Last I checked any one of those actions is illegal."

"You're right, but the statute of limitation on kidnapping has expired, so that charge is out the window," said Jack. "The only charge that has a prayer of sticking is her attempted murder of you, Melanie. And even then, where's the proof?"

"But I came to with her standing over me, holding a pillow. She was blubbering about how she regretted having to kill me but that she had to take a life to avenge her nephew. Then she got all weepy and whiney and told me she couldn't kill me."

"Circumstantial at best, right, Bo?" Jack asked and Bo nodded, jumping into the conversation. "There's no one to corroborate your story, Melanie. We've got no physical evidence of any of Vivian's crimes."

Carly brought up the pipe that Vivian was going to use to hit Melanie with. "She wasn't wearing gloves. Her fingerprints would be all over it."

Bo shook his head. "We never recovered it or the computer that Vivian and Gus were going to use while they held you prisoner, Princess. But I think I know where they are. Getting to them is a whole other issue."

"Where do you think they are?" Phillip wondered.

"Oh, I think our loving father has them somewhere safe. I know that he cleaned up for Vivian, but I think he kept the evidence back rather than destroy it altogether."

"Why?" That was Carys. "If he was trying to help Vivian cover her tracks, why wouldn't he just get rid of anything incriminating?"

Bo and Phillip exchanged glances, but it was Carly who answered. "Victor never does anything unless it's to his full benefit. If he helped Vivian, then it was because he wanted something in return. He would have held onto the evidence as leverage over Vivian, to be used at a later time when it would, in turn, help him."

"Do you think he has them in the house or somewhere offsite?" Nick asked.

"He'd keep them close," Phillip stated. "Probably in his personal safe. Only he knows the combination and no one dares set foot in his office without permission."

"So we're back to square one," Melanie said. "We can't get Vivian without the evidence and we can't get to the evidence because of Victor."

"Not necessarily," Bo said. "Vivian won't give up easily. Just because she changed her mind about killing Melanie doesn't mean she's seen the error of her ways." Bo was speaking to the group at large, but his gaze rested on Carly. "I think she's going to change her target."

"You think she's coming after me, don't you?" Carly asked. She couldn't help it – her hands immediately folded over her lower belly, as though she could shelter the life within from Vivian. Bo nodded and slid his arm around her shoulders. She was grateful for his embrace; a cold chill had suddenly taken up residence at the base of her neck, and she could feel her dinner suddenly trying to make a second appearance. She swallowed and took a few deep breaths to appease her stomach.

"She'll try, but she's going to have to come through me to do it," Bo vowed. "I'm not going to let her anywhere near you. From now on, until we get that old bitch behind bars where she belongs, I don't want you going anywhere alone."

Carly was already pulling away and shaking her head. "No. I spent nearly twenty years with some goon following my every move and I won't live that way again. Bo, I won't!" she insisted.

"Princess, it's for your own good. I can't be here to protect you 24/7, and I can't even stomach the thought of you running around by yourself with Vivian Alamain out to get you. I won't let anything happen to you. I can't lose you, not now." His hand covered her joined ones, still folded over her belly, heedless of the watchful eyes of their companions. Carly knew what Bo was getting at and ever mindful of the need to safeguard her children – even the one no bigger than the tip of her finger – she reluctantly gave her consent. Bo sighed in relief and pulled Carly to him, kissing her forehead. "Thank you," he whispered against her hair.

Melanie and Nick, along with the others, watched the interplay between their mother and Bo, marveling at the connection they shared. Melanie had never seen two people so in love, and part of her felt sorry for Hope. No force on earth could come between Carly and Bo. Melanie only hoped that Hope wouldn't even try. That was one battle she wouldn't win.

"So are we talking police detail?" Phillip asked Bo.

"I can't justify using anyone on the force for this. Nick?" Bo and Nick had already discussed the possible need for extra protection. They'd kept their plan to themselves, knowing what Carly's reaction would likely be.

"I've already taken care of it. Starting in the morning, Mom won't go anywhere without a bodyguard. That goes for you two, also," he said motioning to Melanie and Carys. Carys bristled next to him, but he forged ahead before she had a chance to interrupt. "All we can do is speculate what Vivian's next move might be. The truth is she could come after any one of us. I'm not willing to risk your life just to mollify your stubbornness, Carys." Carys fiddled with a strand of hair and opened her mouth to protest. Then she saw the fear hidden deep in Nick's eyes, and promptly sat back against the couch, the fight going out of her.

"What about you?" Phillip asked, turning to his wife. "Are you gonna argue, too?"

Melanie shook her head. "I like living. I've got no problem with an armed babysitting service while Vivian is on the loose."

"But, Nicky, you could well be in Vivian's sights, too," Carly pointed out. "You don't need to go tearing off by yourself, either."

"Don't worry, Mom. The guards will be watching all of us. We'll be safe, and this time, when Vivian strikes, we'll be ready."

Bo lay down next to Carly, trying not to wake her. He'd just gotten off the phone with Hope. Their conversation had not been a long one, but it seemed that Carly had fallen asleep while waiting on him to finish. He'd informed Hope that he'd gotten all he wanted from the house and that he'd left his key on the mantle for her. He'd also asked if he and Carly could have Ciara for the weekend. Hope told him she would ask their daughter what she wanted to do and would let him know of Ciara's decision tomorrow. With nothing further to say to her, he'd told her good night, stripped off his clothes and slid into bed with the woman he loved.

As soon as he was settled next to her, Carly rolled over and burrowed into his arms, seeking the warmth and safety only he could provide. She was shaking from head to toe, and awake, as Bo soon learned, when she spoke in the darkness.

"I'm scared, Bo."

"About what, Princess?"

"I'm scared of Vivian. I know she's coming after me. She won't stop until she kills me."

"I won't let that happen," he promised. "I swear to you that I'll keep you safe. Do you believe me?"

"You know I do, but…"

"But, nothing. Vivian can try all she likes, but she'll never get to you. I'll be with you whenever I can, and Nick's security detail will be with you the rest of the time. What you have to do is try not to worry. It'll only make you sick."

Carly knew he was right; they'd been cloistered in their bedroom all of five minutes after the discussion over Vivian when the nausea had come on her with a vengeance. Bo's words did a great deal to assuage some of her fear, but she couldn't stop shaking. Bo wrapped himself around her, enveloping her frame with his larger one, wanting to make her forget her terror, even if only for an evening.

"Tell me what you need, Princess."

"I need you."

They didn't talk any more.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Three relatively uneventful weeks passed. Jack, his legal services no longer required, returned to New York, but not until he extracted a promise from Nick to call the minute anything happened. Carly continued to bond with her two older children, learning new things about Melanie and reacquainting herself with Nicky, all the while trying to hide the ever-increasing signs of early pregnancy. There were guards posted round the clock at the house, and Carly had grown used to being escorted to and from work.

Ciara had spent a weekend with Bo and Carly, and it had gone as well as could be expected. The little girl had since eaten dinner with them several times, and Carly was pleased with the little bit of progress they had made. Slowly, but surely, the little girl was warming up to Carly. Well, perhaps "warming up" was a bit too generous – at the very least, the child now replied when Carly spoke to her and had made no further attempts to destroy the contents of Carly's closet. All things considered, the visits could certainly have been worse.

The nausea, Carly thought privately, had grown worse, and after throwing up for the seventh time yesterday in as many hours, she had acquiesced to Bo's request that she have Anne prescribe her some Zofran. Morning sickness was a gross misnomer. Carly was never not queasy, and she was running out of plausible deniability with her houseguests. It did not go unnoticed that Carly was forever running to the bathroom at the mere mention of food. She and Bo would have to break their news to the masses, and soon – she could only get so much mileage out of her nervous stomach excuse.

Not that she didn't have a legitimate reason to have a nervous stomach - literally every where Carly went, Vivian was there. She was at the hospital when Carly would start her shift. She was at the market when Carly and Melanie went shopping with Carys and the park where Bo and Carly sometimes met for lunch. She'd even taken to parking across the street from the house at night, always just outside the boundaries of the restraining order that was still in place. In short, Vivian was doing all she could to drive Carly mad. If it were possible to be stalked to death, then Carly would already have been three weeks in her grave.

So it was that Carly found herself outside of Anne's office door, under the watchful eyes of her body guard, waiting on her friend and doctor to arrive. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Anne walking down the long corridor towards her. Wordlessly, Anne unlocked her door and ushered Carly inside. The other physician took in the clammy pallor and dark-circled eyes of her friend and immediately whipped out her prescription pad.

"Zofran, eight milligrams, three times a day," Anne said, signing her name with a flourish and tearing off the slip to hand it to Carly. "And push fluids as much as humanly possible. If you dehydrate, I'm slapping you in the hospital and stringing you up to an IV. Do I make myself clear?"

"Water, got it," Carly answered, stuffing the prescription into her pocket. "I'll do my best, but I've been living off ice chips the past two days." Members of the nursing staff had already commented on her seeming love affair with the ice machine – Carly had not been without a cup of ice chips in her hand for her past two shifts.

"Keep at it, eat the ice and sip water as much as you can stand. We'll hardly keep your pregnancy private if I have to admit you for dehydration."

"I was never this sick with my other kids."

"Well, every pregnancy is different, plus you're a good bit older this time around," Anne pointed out.

Carly huffed. "Don't remind me. I swear, my pelvic floor is already beyond repair and I'm barely nine weeks."

"But it's worth it, right?" Anne asked, and was reassured when a blinding smile took over Carly's features.

"Completely. I wouldn't trade this for anything in the world," Carly answered, her hand lighting on her abdomen.

"Start the Zofran as soon as possible, and let me know if it doesn't help. I think you'll see a big improvement in a couple of days."

"Great, thanks! I'll see you next week," Carly said as she exited Anne's office. Oliver the Bodyguard immediately fell into step behind her and Carly informed him that she had to stop by the hospital's pharmacy before heading back to the main hospital. Oliver kept watch while Carly waited on her medicine; then escorted her to the surgical floor. She nabbed a bottle of water from the waiting area refrigerator and discreetly popped one of the little white pills. Thirty minutes later, as Carly scrubbed in to assist Daniel with an appendectomy, she decided to buy stock in the pharmaceutical company that manufactured Zofran; it was the first time in weeks that she'd not wanted to hurl all over the operating room.

The surgery was a simple one and in no time, Daniel was stitching up their nine-year-old patient, and Carly was privately congratulating herself for not regurgitating her breakfast. Together, she and Daniel cleaned up and headed towards the doctor's lounge.

"So how long is your friend going to be following you around," Daniel asked, nodding his head in indication of Oliver, who faithfully matched them step for step.

"As long as Vivian is running around free," Carly explained. "Nicky has guards surrounding the house and one follows Carys, Melanie and me where ever we go."

"Speak of the devil," Daniel muttered and pointed down the hallway, where sure enough, Vivian was lingering in the corridor, close enough to follow Carly with her eyes, but far enough away that the restraining order was not violated. They stood watching Vivian watching them, and Carly could feel the woman's ice-cold glare crawling all over her body. She was plotting something, of that Carly was certain. Vivian met Carly's eyes, and with a tiny smirk, turned on her heel and slithered out of sight.

Giving herself a mental shake, Carly turned back to Daniel. "She's literally everywhere I go. I just don't know what she's waiting on."

"Maybe she's trying to rattle your cage," Daniel offered, but Carly shook her head.

"No, she's just biding her time, waiting on the perfect opportunity. Vivian strikes when you least expect it."

"Well, she'll have to get around your guard dog first." Carly followed Daniel's gaze to Oliver, who did, in point of fact, resemble a rather irritated pit bull.

"I'm sure she's deterred by the presence of the guards, but it will only slow her down for a time. Vivian is nothing if not tenacious."

Carly and Daniel entered the doctor's lounge, but Oliver remained just outside the door, ready to protect his charge at a moment's notice. Carly stared lustfully at the large cup of coffee Daniel poured himself, but shook her head when he raised an empty cup in her direction. "I'm trying to lay off caffeine," she explained. "My nerves are on edge enough as it is." She lifted her hand, which was indeed shaking, to prove her point. She went to the fridge instead and grabbed a bottle of water.

They sat companionably at one of the tables, sipping their beverages, and discussing their favorite subject, Melanie. "Hey, why don't you and Chloe join us for dinner this weekend, maybe Saturday? I know Mel would love it."

Daniel wanted to agree right away, but stopped short of accepting the invitation. "I don't know, Carly. Chloe – she's – well, she's still having a hard time with all of this. I'm not sure she's up to a family dinner just yet."

Carly nodded in sympathy. "I understand, but still, you'll think about it?" She beamed when Daniel promised to talk it over with Chloe. "Don't worry. I won't mention it to Melanie until Chloe agrees." Just then Daniel's beeper went off. Carly's followed suit ten seconds later, effectively interrupting further conversation about their daughter. They stood together, and with Oliver following, headed towards the nearest nurses' station where Daniel called the switchboard to find out where he and Carly were needed.

"Right, we're on our way," Daniel said and hung up the phone. "Come on." He pulled Carly in the direction of the elevators and pushed "3."

"Emergency room?" Carly asked.

"Yep, mini-van versus school bus. They need all hands on deck for this one." The elevator dinged, indicating that they had arrived at their destination. Carly and Daniel stepped out of the elevator into bedlam. All around them, children were weeping while frightened parents swarmed en masse at the nurses' station, trying to glean information about their children.

Without hesitation, Carly and Daniel dove into the chaos. Thankfully, though there were a lot, none of the injuries were serious. There were some broken bones, lots of lacerations and bruises, but nothing that couldn't be healed with a little medical intervention and a lot of TLC. Two hours later, Carly finished stitching up her last patient, a little dark-haired boy, who refused to cry even though Carly knew the antiseptic was stinging the four-inch gash on his left leg. His chin quivered slightly, but he did his best to keep a brave face while she worked. Patting the repaired limb gently, Carly smiled at him and handed him a red lollipop. The boy took the proffered treat and immediately unwrapped it. Carly smiled again and turned her attention to the boy's frazzled mother.

"Follow up with your pediatrician in one week. If it becomes red or swollen, bring him back here. I'll send the nurse over to discharge you and she'll give you some written instructions for wound care."

"Thank you, Doctor," the mother gushed. "He's really all right?" she asked with a tone of disbelief in her voice.

Carly squeezed her hand reassuringly and replied, "He's fine. Just keep an eye on the stitches and let him rest this afternoon. He'll be as good as new tomorrow." The mother nodded and turned back to her son, freeing Carly to slip off towards the elevator bank. She glanced around for Oliver and saw him making his way over to her from his position against the far wall – a position, Carly noted, that allowed him the ability to view the comings and goings of the entire room. Stretching her arms over her head to ease the kink in her lower back, Carly briefly saw a blur approaching at warp speed from her left.

In retrospect, she would describe the next sequence of events as having taken an eternity to unfold, though in reality they took no more than thirty seconds. Vivian was moving towards her, a murderous glint in her crazed eyes. Carly whirled around to see Oliver running at her, hands at the ready to push Carly out of the way. But Vivian got there first. Carly spun again to face Vivian, the action making her dizzy. Her brain had just enough time to register the fact that Vivian was holding a wicked-looking blade in her hand before that blade was raised in Carly's direction. Operating solely on survival instincts, Carly wrapped her arms around her middle and twisted her body, trying to hit the ground before the knife could find its target.

Carly felt her flesh tear as the blade found its mark. She was aware of blinding pain and hot blood pouring down her side, then her eyes rolled back in her head and she sank to the floor.

Bo raced off the elevator, eyes frantically searching the room for Daniel. He'd driven to the hospital as though the devil himself were after him, getting to Carly the sole focus of his mind. His heart had stopped in his chest when Daniel had phoned him, saying that there'd been an accident and Carly was hurt. _Please, God, let her be safe, she and the baby,_ Bo repeated the words in a continuous loop to God, his Pop, and any saints who might be listening in heaven.

Spying Daniel coming out of the operating room, Bo sprinted to him, grabbing the other man by the arms. "Where is she? Where's Carly?" Bo pleaded frantically. Daniel attempted to free himself from Bo's death grip so that he could answer his questions.

"She's alive," Daniel said, and kept repeating the two words until Bo relaxed his grip and fell into one of the plastic chairs against the wall. He tried desperately to rein in his emotions and took several deep breaths to slow his racing heart.

"What happened?"

"Vivian," Daniel spat out the name as though it left a bad taste in his mouth. "She was hiding in one of the triage areas in the E.R. when Carly and I went to assist in a school bus accident. She waited until Carly was alone by the elevators, then she stabbed her." All the blood drained from Bo's face and he suddenly found himself wobbly, in danger of passing out even though he was seated.

"Where?" Bo asked, his voice laced with pain. "Where did Vivian stab Carly?"

"Not where she was aiming, I'll tell you that much. I don't know how Carly did it, but she somehow was able to twist around so that the knife went into her upper arm." Bo closed his eyes in relief at Daniel's words, but the doctor's next statement caused his heart to skip another series of beats.

"The knife went into her arm, Bo, but Carly's lost a lot of blood." Daniel went onto explain that Carly's arm was sliced to the bone from her shoulder joint to her elbow. "We've already given her one transfusion. She's not in a coma, but she is unconscious."

Bo's eyes opened slowly, anguish filling them in the form of tears. "Daniel, Carly's pregnant."

Daniel suddenly felt as though he were going to pass out. He swayed momentarily, but quickly slipped back into doctor mode. "How far along is she?"

"Nine weeks. We only found out a couple of weeks ago. Will the baby be all right?"

"I don't know," Daniel answered honestly. "As I said she lost a lot of blood. We'll perform an ultrasound to check on the baby. Has Carly already seen a doctor?"

Bo nodded. "Anne Snow. She was supposed to have her second appointment next week."

"Look, I need to page Anne, get her over here to look at Carly. Obstetrics is definitely not my field of expertise. Once Anne examines her, we'll know more." Daniel waited for Bo to acknowledge his statements, but Bo had retreated into himself, worry for Carly pervading his senses. Daniel awkwardly patted Bo on the shoulder and went to place a call to Anne. After apprising the other doctor of Carly's condition, Daniel realized that he needed to call Melanie, figuring that Bo was in no shape to do so.

Not wanting to alarm their daughter, Daniel instead called Phillip, who in turn promised to notify Nick of what had happened. Daniel was sitting with Bo again when Anne Snow appeared, seeking her patient. With a backward glance at Bo, Daniel led Anne to Carly's room. Carly was still sleeping peacefully, and her vitals were stable. Anne reviewed her chart; then stepped out to request a portable ultrasound machine.

"I need to check for a heartbeat," Anne explained. "With the amount of blood she lost…" Her voice trailed off, but Daniel didn't have any trouble filling in the blanks. He could tell from Anne's face that she was doubtful the baby had survived.

"I should get her boyfriend," Daniel said and left the room to fetch Bo. When they entered Carly's room, Bo went immediately to her side, a compass to true North.

Bo took her hand and leaned over to press a kiss to her brow. "Hey, Princess, you hang in there, okay? I'm here now and everything's going to be fine." He glanced back at the two doctors for confirmation.

Daniel, sensing the unasked question, spoke up. "Bo, I told you, Carly will be fine. The cut is deep and she did lose a lot of blood, but she's stable and will recover. She'll be weak for a while, but physically, she'll be all right." He looked at Anne, who took over.

"Our concern now is the baby. I've sent for an ultrasound machine so I can take a look. We'll know more then."

"What are the baby's chances?" Bo asked.

Anne opened her mouth to reassure him, but found herself unable to do so. She finally settled on the truth. "In my experience, with this kind of blood loss, it's unlikely that the pregnancy will continue."

Crestfallen, Bo fixed his eyes on Carly, who was blissfully unaware of her lover's turmoil. "Everything's going to be all right, Princess," he repeated resolutely. "I promised you a happy ending and that's what we're going to get."

A knock at the door signaled the arrival of the technician with the machine. Anne allowed the tech to set up the machine, but then dismissed him, stating that she would perform the test herself. Wanting to give the couple privacy, Daniel slipped out behind the technician and went to wait on his daughter and son-in-law. He wanted to be the one to reassure Melanie of her mother's condition.

Anne waited until the door shut once more, and then she pulled up Carly's hospital gown, exposing her lower abdomen. She put some gel on the bare skin and spread it around using the wand; then taking a deep breath, Anne flipped on the machine and said a quick prayer for a miracle for her friend.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

A ding! announced the arrival of an elevator, and Daniel looked up, arms opening just in time to catch his daughter as she stumbled blindly out of the elevator car and into his embrace. The tremor he felt going through her body matched the one he heard in her voice as she asked, "Where is my mother?"

Daniel pulled away so that he could look Melanie in the eye. "She's all right, honey. She'll be fine." And much like he'd done with Bo, Daniel found himself repeating the words until Melanie at last seemed to accept them. She turned, then, to look at Nick, whose own fear was etched on his features.

"I want to see Mom, now," Nick said in a tone that clearly meant he expected to be accommodated.

"Her doctor is in with her and Bo now so you're going to have to wait. But please believe me when I tell you that Carly is okay. She lost a lot of blood, but we were able to give her a transfusion and she's resting comfortably." Daniel deliberately left out any mention of Carly's pregnancy, not feeling that it was his place to deliver such news.

"What happened?" Nick asked.

As best he could, Daniel related the afternoon's events to the little group, from Vivian's presence at the hospital that morning, to her attack on Carly in the emergency room.

"And where is Vivian now?" Nick queried. There was a feral gleam in the young man's eyes, and Daniel was grateful that, for the time being, Nick couldn't get hold of his aunt. Not out of any concern for Vivian Alamain, but only because Carly would never forgive him if he allowed her son to do anything that would land the boy in jail.

"Right now…she's in the hospital's psych ward, heavily sedated and under guard."

"Why is she in the psych ward?" Phillip wondered aloud.

"Because after she stabbed Carly she started laughing like a hyena, raving that Lawrence was avenged at last. Oliver was able to subdue her until the police got there, but I went with your mother into surgery. One of the other doctors told me about Vivian. She was too unhinged for the police to take her to jail so she was admitted under psychiatric care until other arrangements can be made."

"All right, enough about Vivian. I'll deal with her directly." Nick's voice was laced with venom, and Daniel had no trouble believing that he'd gladly see his aunt in hell for the harm she had brought to his mother. "Tell me about my mother."

"Vivian stabbed your mother. I'm not really sure where she was aiming, but Carly managed to block the initial attack and the knife went into her left arm. Her arm was slashed to the bone, from her shoulder joint to her elbow. The blood loss was considerable, but as I said, we gave her a transfusion and she's unconscious, but she will recover." The last few words were directed at his daughter, who paled visibly when Daniel described Carly's injury.

"But wait a second," Nick started, confused about something. "You said you performed the surgery on Mom?" Daniel nodded, unsure as to where Nick was going.

"Yes, to close up the wound."

"Then, what doctor is in with her now?" Melanie had given her attention to Nick when he began speaking, but now turned questioning eyes to Daniel.

"You said she was fine. Why would another doctor be checking on her if you're the surgeon?" Melanie knew enough of the inner workings of the hospital to know that something was wrong. There had to be some other problem with her mother for another doctor to be examining Carly. Pinning her father to the spot with her mother's eyes, Melanie tore into him.

"What else is wrong? What aren't you telling us? It's worse than you said, isn't it? That's why you're out here and another doctor is with her." Attempting to quell his wife's panic, Phillip wrapped his arms around her from behind, holding her until her questions gave way to hot tears of fear.

Daniel watched his sobbing daughter; then observed the same look of terror on the faces of the others, unsure as to what to say to them. He truly felt it wasn't his place to break the news of Carly's pregnancy, plus he was uncertain as to what news that would be. He had to tell them something, though, before they collectively barged into Carly's room and learned the truth for themselves.

"Look, there is a slight…problem," Daniel began hesitantly. "But I can assure you that Carly's life is not in danger. I can't elaborate further, but Bo will fill you in as soon as he can. I told you, he's in your mother's room with her other doctor and I'm sure that as soon as they're done, he'll come out and answer your questions."

Nick gave a curt nod in response to Daniel's speech and pulled Carys closer to his side. The expression on his face told Daniel that Nick would be patient for now, but Daniel harbored no delusions that the calm would last for long. Still, the four young people settled at last in the plastic chairs to wait for an update from the other doctor.

Bo sat stoically at Carly's side, clutching her hand in his, while Anne performed the scan that would tell him if his child had survived. Not certain what to look for on the screen, Bo instead watched Anne's face for any sign of the baby's fate.

He nearly shouted for joy when a grin broke out on the doctor's face and she wordlessly pointed to a tiny fluttering object on the screen. Anne flipped a switch on the machine and the room was filled with the steady whoosh, whoosh that was his baby's heartbeat.

To Bo it was the most beautiful sound he'd ever heard. He squeezed Carly's hand and only realized he was crying when the tear drops splashed on their joined hands. He wished that she was awake so she could see and hear how much their baby had changed since the first ultrasound, but then he was ultimately grateful that she had been spared the pain of wondering about the baby. When she woke up, he'd be able to tell her definitively that their child was alive and well inside of her. He dimly became aware that Anne was speaking to him and focused his attention back on the little blob onscreen.

"See the little bumps here and here? Those are the arm and leg buds," Anne was explaining, dutifully pointing out the little flecks on what, to Bo, resembled nothing so much as a bean. Still, he nodded his head, his heart too full for speech. Anne printed out some pictures and handed them to Bo.

"You can show them to Carly when she wakes up." Bo took the pictures and carefully laid them on the stand next to Carly's bed. Anne watched as Bo tenderly stroked Carly's cheek, privately thinking that she'd never seen a man adore a woman as much as Bo did Carly. Her friend was a very lucky woman.

"I'll leave you two alone. I'll be back in the morning to check on Carly. You should get some rest, too." Anne collected the ultrasound machine and pulled it from the room. When she was gone, Bo leaned over, his head coming to rest on the bed next to Carly's hip. His eyes fluttered shut and he offered up silent prayers of thanksgiving for the safety of the woman he loved and the new life she carried inside.

Too close, he thought. "I nearly lost you, Princess," he whispered. "But it's over now - Vivian will spend the rest of her life behind bars for this. She can't hurt you anymore. You're safe. Our baby is safe." Lifting his head, Bo reached up and gently brushed his lips over hers. "I need to go for a little while, check on our family, let them know that you're all right. But I'll be back. You just rest." He ran his hand over the flat plain of her belly and briefly imagined it swelling with life over the coming months. He couldn't hold back the smile that transformed his face as he left the room.

At the sound of the closing door, five sets of eyes honed in on Bo. Then seeing his huge smile, all five people breathed a collective sigh of relief. "Mom's okay?" Nick asked, being the first one to find his voice.

Bo nodded, still smiling. "She's perfect."

Melanie popped up from her chair. "Can we see her?"

"She's still asleep," Bo answered and looked to Daniel.

"We gave her some pretty strong pain killers. Coupled with the blood loss, she'll probably be out for a while. Her body needs rest to help her heal."

"I don't care if she's asleep. I'm not leaving until I see her with my own eyes," Nick said. He moved towards Carly's room, Carys trailing behind him. Melanie waited the span of a nano-second before taking off after her brother. Phillip followed closely behind his wife, and the foursome piled into Carly's room, leaving Daniel and Bo just outside the door.

"The baby?" Daniel asked when they were out of earshot.

Still smiling, Bo replied, "Anne says everything looks okay. She'll be back to check on Carly in the morning."

"That's great," Daniel said in relief. "I left out any mention of Carly being pregnant to the kids, but I think you'd better plan on spilling the beans soon."

"We wanted to wait until Carly got out of the first trimester, but now, I don't know. I guess I'll see what Carly wants to do when she wakes up. When do you think that will be?"

Daniel shrugged. "She'll be out for several hours, and honestly, the longer she sleeps right now, the better. Her body will have already been working overtime because of the pregnancy. Adding an injury like the one she has only makes it have to work that much harder. Why?"

Bo's eyes hardened instantly. "I want to find out where Vivian Alamain is. I won't rest until that deranged old bat is locked up in a jail cell."

"She's cooling her heels in the hospital's psych ward for the moment, Bo. She isn't going anywhere." Quickly Daniel filled Bo in on Vivian's behavior after the attack. "Oliver told the police officers that Vivian didn't even try to flee. Instead she just stood, laughing, over Carly. She only became violent when the officers handcuffed her and took the knife from her. Then she started screaming for Lawrence to help her."

"Is there any way she can escape?"

"She's heavily sedated. It was the only way to shut her up," Daniel explained. "She'll stay that way until she becomes lucid." The tone in his voice suggested to Bo that Daniel didn't think any of them would live to see the day.

"Still, I'll feel better posting a couple of cops outside her room. Can you find out who her doctor is and what room she's in?"

"Sure, no problem."

"Thanks. I'm just gonna go check on Carly." Bo headed back into Carly's overcrowded room and Daniel set off to find out the requested information on Vivian.

Carly was still unconscious, oblivious to the worried gazes of her children. Melanie was seated on the bed holding her mother's hand while Nick stood next to his sister, a hand resting on her shoulder. Phillip and Carys, hanging back against the wall to give their respective other halves room by the bed, looked up when Bo entered.

"So what did the other doctor have to say?" Phillip asked his brother. Melanie and Nick turned at the sound of Phillip's voice.

"Is Mom really all right?" Nick asked, his voice thick with worry.

"She's fine," Bo assured the room at large. He edged his way along the other side of the bed until he was standing – nonchalantly, he hoped – in front of the side table and the ultrasound pictures that rested on it.

Melanie spoke up. "So what did the other doctor think was wrong with her? Dad only said there was some sort of problem."

"Uh, it was, uhm, some sort of internal…thing, but it's all right now," Bo said. Melanie stared at him, unconvinced, and he could see her mind working, eyes filled with questions.

"What kind of internal 'thing'?" she asked.

Bo faltered, mentally cursing himself for not coming up with an explanation prior to entering Carly's room. He glanced down at Carly, peacefully sleeping, almost willing her to wake up and save him from himself. She slept on, offering decidedly little help. He did a quick calculation as to who would be more mad at him – Carly, because he broke their news alone, or her children, because he lied to them about the state of their mother's health. Deciding that he could find a way to make it up to Carly, he took a deep breath.

"Your mom is pregnant," he said. Four sets of eyes blinked uncomprehendingly at him; then one by one, the eyes stared at him, agog at the words he'd spoken.

"Mom is…" Nick started.

"Pregnant?" Melanie finished.

Bo nodded.

Still with the blinking eyes, then suddenly the room exploded in a hotbed of rapid-fire questions, all directed at Bo.

"How far along is she?" Melanie asked.

"When did you find out?" Nick chimed in.

"Is the baby all right?" That was Carys.

"Um, congratulations?" Phillip offered uncertainly.

"Just settle down," Bo said, projecting his voice over the din. "I can't answer your questions unless you all shut up." The noise ceased, but the staring resumed, and Bo couldn't decide which was more uncomfortable. Clearing his throat, he did his best to bring them up to speed.

"Your mom is nine weeks pregnant. We've known for a few weeks, but we wanted to wait to tell you until she got past the first trimester. When I got to the hospital this afternoon, I had to tell Daniel so he could have Carly's doctor check her out. That's what we were doing earlier."

"So the baby is all right?" Melanie asked.

"Yes, Daniel and Anne, your mom's OB, were both worried about the blood loss possibly causing a miscarriage, but the baby's heartbeat was very strong on the ultrasound and Anne thinks that everything will be okay. The most important thing for your mom right now is rest. You heard what Daniel said about the pain killers they gave her?" They all nodded. "The best thing you can all do is go home and let your mom sleep. You can come back and see her in the morning." He should have known better than to think he could get rid of them that easily.

Melanie immediately jumped up in protest and Nick stood solidly with his sister. "No way. We're not leaving until Mom is awake."

Bo looked over the siblings' shoulders to Phillip and Carys, pleading with them silently for help. Sensing his brother's need, Phillip stepped up to Melanie and placed his hands on her shoulders.

"Mel," he said in a quiet voice. "I think we should go for now. Your mom is going to be out for a while, and this room is too small for us all to camp out in. I'm sure that Bo will call us the moment she wakes up."

"Of course I will," Bo said earnestly. Melanie and Nick looked at each other for a long moment before coming to a silent conclusion together.

"The minute she wakes up?" Nick repeated and Bo nodded that he would. "All right, let's go." Nick leaned over to kiss his mother's forehead and she began to stir. He pulled back, startled, and glanced at Bo, who only had eyes for Carly.

"Princess," Bo whispered, taking her head. Carly turned her head this way and that, eyes still closed, but she was whimpering, almost as if she were in the throes of a nightmare. Her body began to twist and turn and she cried out in fear, sea green eyes finally opening to a terror only she could see.

Bo took her in his arms, whispering soothing words in her ear until she finally seemed to wake up, the panic in her eyes gradually dulling to confusion as she realized that everyone was standing over her.

"Bo? What the hell is going on?" she asked, then touching her left arm gingerly, she continued, "And why does my arm feel like it was ripped off?"

"Because it damn near was, Princess," Bo told her. "What do you remember?"

Carly's brow crinkled in concentration as she desperately tried to recall the events that had landed her in a hospital bed. "I remember…the emergency room. A school bus accident? I stitched up a little boy's leg. Then I went to get on the elevator. Oliver was coming towards me and then…Vivian. Oh my God!" Carly turned to Bo, frantic as she recalled what happened.

"She stabbed me! I passed out. Bo, the baby!" Carly was crying now, alarm for her child her only concern.

"Carly, the baby's fine. Anne already checked you over. Look," he said and thrust the ultrasound pictures into her trembling hands. He tried to point out the various features that Anne had shown him, but Carly was shaking so violently in his arms that he was having a difficult time telling her. He settled instead on telling her about hearing the heartbeat, how steady and strong it was. As his voice soothed her, Carly's shaking subsided. Only then did she recall that they were not alone. Her attention left the pictures in her hands and focused on Melanie, who was crying, and Nicky, who looked as though he were about to.

"Um, hey guys, guess what?" Carly spoke uncertainly to her children. "We're pregnant," she said weakly, waiving the ultrasound photos around in the air.

Laughter bubbled out of Melanie, who said, "Yeah, we heard. You picked a hell of a way to make an announcement."

"Seriously, Mom," Nick said with a watery smile. "Next time, maybe you can skip the stint in the hospital and just send us a text message or something."

Carly laughed through her tears, but then clutched her arm as pain radiated through it. "Ow! This hurts like a bitch! What did that psycho do to me, anyway?"

As a group, the others worked to fill Carly in on the extent of her injury and Vivian's present whereabouts.

"And you're sure she can't escape?" Carly asked, disbelief evident in her voice.

"I'm going to post armed officers outside her room, Princess, plus Daniel says she's heavily sedated. She can't get to you," Bo promised.

"What about Gus?" Nick inquired. He had all but forgotten about his aunt's body servant-slash-toady. "We need to keep an eye out for him. He'd never leave Vivian, and he just might try to carry out her attempt on Mom's life."

"That's true," Bo said, deep in thought. "All right, this is what we're going to do. Nick, you have your security detail outside this room at all times. I'm going to get Gus's picture out on the wire and post some officers around the hospital's entrances, in addition to the ones outside Vivian's room. The sooner we catch this bozo, the better. With Vivian and Gus both behind bars, we can all get on with our lives."

Bo looked at Carly as he said the last few words, and as their eyes met, it seemed to suck all the oxygen out of the room. They quite forgot about their family standing around them, content only in the existence of the other. They were truly in their own little world.

The others glanced uncomfortably at each other, until Nick cleared his throat in an attempt to regain his mother's attention. "I'm sorry, sweetheart," Carly said, finally focusing on her son. "Did you say something?"

Shaking his head, Nick leaned over to kiss his mother's cheek. "Nothing, Mom. You get some rest. We're just gonna go line up the extra security, plus I want to talk to Oliver, make sure that he's spoken with the police."

"Yeah, and I'll pay D.A. Woods a visit to make sure he gives this his personal attention," Phillip offered.

"Thanks, little bro," Bo said. Melanie stepped over and held onto her mother, a small part of her afraid to let go.

"It's all right, baby girl," Carly assured her daughter. "I'll still be here in the morning when you come by." Melanie nodded, her face buried against Carly's neck, trying and failing to disguise the fact that she was crying. Pulling away, Melanie allowed Phillip to take hold of her arm and steer her towards the door. Nick and Carys followed them, arm in arm. Nick turned, casting one last look at his mother, but she was already nestled in Bo's arms, eyelids drooping heavily with sleep. The sight brought a tiny smile to Nick's face, and he closed the door, certain that he was leaving his mother in good hands.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Sleeping peacefully in the arms of one's lover, snuggled close together in a comfortably large bed, wrapped in down comforters and 1000 thread-count sheets was, to Carly, an agreeable way to spend an evening.

Sleeping wedged sideways against one's lover in a cramped hospital bed, under thread-bare blankets and itchy, bleached sheets while nausea-inducing pain radiated through the left side of one's body, on the other hand, made Carly want to commit murder on the spot.

Bo had not left her side through the night, setting up his extra police protection via cell phone from his perch on her bed. He'd then held her while she slept off the after-effects of the anesthesia. A nurse had come in around midnight to give her a shot of pain medicine, but Carly had refused, not wishing to further subject the baby to more narcotics. She instead requested Tylenol, which, she admitted, did next to nothing for the pain in her arm.

The pain, however, seemed to double her nausea, and Carly had spent the remainder of the night alternately vomiting and dry-heaving. Bo had dutifully pulled her hair back from her face during each bout, then sponged her face with a cool cloth, finally holding her until she fell into a fitful doze around 5:30 in the morning.

It was now almost 8:00, and Carly opened one eye carefully, trying not to move even a millimeter that wasn't absolutely necessary. Her right side was numb from where she had lain against Bo, but the left continued to throb with terrific pain, echoing seemingly every beat of her heart. The one bright spot was that she was able to open the other eye and blink without the room spinning or the need to gag. _Well_ , she thought. _That has to be an improvement._ She would take her victories where she could find them.

Bo jolted awake at Carly's stirring, nearly knocking her off the bed in his haste to see to her needs. The sudden movement brought on a wave of nausea, but as there was absolutely nothing in her stomach, Carly only gagged a few times before easing herself back against the pillows.

"You gonna make it, Princess?" Bo asked. He tenderly caressed her cheek and she turned into his touch, loving the feel of his hands on her.

"The jury is still out," she answered wryly. "But assuming I don't have to move again before, oh, say, the end of the week, then I just might survive." Slowly her eyes opened and focused in on Bo's worried features. Her mouth was a desert. She wanted water, but knew that it would probably only make a second appearance.

"Can you get me some ice?"

"Of course." Bo pulled away, then turned back and extended his hand. "Do you want to, I don't know, sit up or something?"

"Not moving before the end of the week, remember? Ice, please, now." The cotton that had homesteaded in the back of her throat was making her gag again. Bo nodded hurriedly and took off in search of the requested ice. Carly's eyes fluttered shut. She wasn't certain how much time had passed, but she was roused again by the touch of cool moisture to her lips. Her eyes opened, and Bo was standing over her, holding an ice chip to her mouth.

Gratefully, her tongue darted out to snatch the proffered ice, curling around Bo's fingertip in the process. A tiny moan of pleasure escaped her as the ice slid down the back of her throat. Bo watched her, mesmerized, memories of exactly what she could do with her tongue racing to the forefront of his mind. Shaking himself out from under the fog of lust threatening to permeate his brain, Bo held out another piece of ice to Carly.

Her lips parted automatically, but this time she purposely captured her lover's finger, drawing it into the warm recesses of her mouth. The look in her eyes told Bo that Carly knew exactly the effect she was having on him. Groaning in frustration, he withdrew his finger from her mouth and thrust the cup of ice chips at her.

"You aren't gonna feed them to me?" she asked, her face the picture of innocence. Bo shook his head and took a step back from the bed.

"Not if you keep doing that thing with your tongue."

"But you like that thing I do with my tongue."

"You're sick," Bo protested. "You're in terrible pain from your arm and you've been sick at your stomach most of the night. You're supposed to be resting, not trying to seduce me."

"But I need something to take my mind off my arm and my stomach," Carly argued. "Some other…activity that will distract me from all my ailments."

Bo smiled sweetly at her and offered, "I'll get you a crossword puzzle." Carly rolled her eyes, a pout forming on her bow-shaped lips, but Bo held his ground. "The only thing you're gonna be doing in that bed, Princess, is sleeping."

"Fine, fine," Carly muttered, shoving more ice in her mouth. When Bo made no move to return to the bed, she sighed and patted the space beside her. "Come sit down. I promise not to make any more seductive attempts upon your person. Your virtue is perfectly safe." Bo sat down on the bed, brushing the hair back from her face. Even after a night of little sleep, interrupted by violent bouts of nausea, Carly was still the most beautiful woman Bo had ever seen, and he told her so.

She gave a very unladylike snort and shook her head. "I feel like I'm hung over without the pleasure of getting that way, not to mention I must look like something the cat dragged in."

"You're still beautiful to me, Princess," Bo assured her.

"I suppose everyone is entitled to his own opinion," she said, popping another piece of her ice. "But I'd feel less like road kill if I could take a shower."

"You can barely sit up. How do you propose to stand long enough for a shower?"

"Leaning against you," she answered hopefully. Bo eyed her warily before answering.

"Not that I'm against holding your wet and naked body in my arms under normal circumstances, Princess, but I think we'd better get clearance from a doctor first."

Carly brightened considerably. "What a coincidence? It just so happens that the letters 'M.D.' follow my name." She flung back the covers with her right arm, only to have Bo throw them back over her.

"I was thinking maybe we could ask another doctor," Bo said. He folded his arms across his chest and looked down at her with his best intimidate-the-suspect glare. Carly only huffed.

"Fine, then, if you really want me to ask Daniel to shower with me, by all means, have it your way."

"Oh, for the love…" Bo trailed off in exasperation, but Carly only giggled, happily munching more ice. "You drive me insane, do you know that?" he asked, but he was smiling.

"It's what I live for, baby," she answered, batting her eyes at him coquettishly. A knock sounded at the door, and Carly called out, "Come in!"

"Everybody decent?" Daniel asked, poking his head into the room.

"I don't know about decent, but I'm clothed and in my right mind, at least," came Carly's reply.

"I take it you're feeling somewhat better?" Daniel asked. He picked up her chart and checked over her vitals from the night before. Carly opened her mouth to answer, but found herself unable to do so, as Bo had clapped his hand over her mouth, effectively silencing her.

"She's been sick all night, Daniel," Bo informed the other doctor, all the while keeping his hand tightly in place over Carly's protesting mouth. "We spent half the night with her throwing up and the rest of it dry-heaving. She's barely slept because of the pain, and she refused anything stronger than Tylenol."

"Why don't you want any pain meds?" Daniel's question was directed at Carly, who glared at Bo until he removed his hand.

"Because I don't want to take anything that might hurt the baby."

"Carly, you know that Percocet is safe in pregnancy," Daniel admonished.

"Actually, it's a Pregnancy Class C drug, Daniel, and that means that no one really knows what it could do to a pregnancy."

"No, it means that no adverse effects have been reported in pregnant women…"

"Other than the babies who were born addicted to it," Carly interrupted.

"But that was when it was administered late in pregnancy. Anne, your friend and doctor, feels that in your situation, the benefits would far outweigh any risks. You should take the medication, Carly."

"Nope," Carly replied, resolutely. She folded her hands protectively across her abdomen. "I'm not willing to take any chances. I can stand the pain, Daniel." God knew, she'd suffered through far worse pain at the hands of Lawrence Alamain. She wasn't about to let what his aunt had done to her take away her chance of having a healthy baby.

Daniel and Carly continued to stare at one another, while Bo glanced back and forth between the two of them, waiting to see which one would cave first. He had no doubt it would be Daniel. Sighing loudly, Daniel made a quick note on her chart. "You always were too stubborn for your own good," he said, shaking his head at her. Then he walked over to the left side of the bed and gingerly ran his hands over her stitches. Carly flinched a bit, but otherwise gave no indication of being in pain.

"Tender?" Daniel asked.

"Yes, but nothing I can't handle," Carly said, teeth gritting against the pain. "How long do I have to stay here?" she asked in an attempt to steer the conversation away from pain management.

"A few more days, at least. I want to keep a check on your iron levels and I'm sure that Anne will want to keep a close eye on you, too. There's no sign of infection, which is good news. My main concern now is building up your strength. The blood loss weakened you and you're losing nutrients as fast as we pump them into you through the i.v. I'd like to start you on some doses of Zofran through the i.v. to see if we can make some headway with all the nausea. Are you averse to that?"

Carly shook her head. "I'm agreeable to that suggestion, but can I please take a shower?"

"You can't even sit up," Daniel told her. "How the hell are you going to stand up for a shower?"

"That's exactly what I told her," Bo said. "But you know how she is."

"I know, it's her way or no way," replied Daniel and Bo's head nodded in agreement.

"Excuse me, I'm sitting right here," Carly grumbled, but Bo and Daniel continued their discussion regarding Carly's personality as though they hadn't heard her. Using her right hand, Carly whistled shrilly, causing both men to jump nearly a foot off the ground. Having regained their attention, Carly looked pointedly at Daniel. "Shower?" she asked, eyebrows raised in question.

"I'll make you a deal," Daniel started. "Let's get a dose of Zofran in you. Then if you can eat and keep down something, I'll let you try a shower this afternoon."

Carly flashed a triumphant smile at Bo, clearly thrilled to be getting her way. Bo ignored her for the time being and asked Daniel, "How long before she gets the Zofran?"

"I'll give the order to the nurse now so it shouldn't take longer than half an hour. When given through an i.v. the medicine will take effect much faster. Then I want you to try and eat something, Carly. I'll be back to check on you later this evening," Daniel called out as he left the room.

"What do you think you can eat?" Bo asked.

"Hmm, maybe just some crackers to begin with," she said. "Let's see how that goes before trying anything more exciting."

"Are you sure? Because I could run to the Pub, get you some eggs and toast, maybe?"

Carly turned positively green at the thought of eggs. "Definitely crackers to start. As much as the zofran helped yesterday morning, I think I'll feel a lot better after I have some more. Maybe I can eat something more substantial later. But you know, if I'm going to be crashing here for a few days, I could really use some things from home."

"I'll bring you anything you want, Princess," Bo told her, rummaging around in the bedside table drawer for the customary pen and notepad he knew were put there for patients to use. Retrieving the desired objects, he settled next to Carly on the bed.

"Let's see…toothbrush," she said, running her tongue over her teeth, which were, admittedly, less than sparkly at the moment. "Hairbrush and a rubber band. There's probably one wrapped around my brush handle."

"There is," Bo told her while writing. "I put it on there myself yesterday morning."

"Okay, some PJ's, underwear, oh and another bra. I don't know what happened to the clothes I was wearing yesterday. Do you? I imagine they were ruined, but I'd like to know, just the same."

"I'll ask. What else?"

"My moisturizer and deodorant. You know what, just rake off everything that's on the bathroom counter into my overnight bag. Maybe that would be easier."

Bo chuckled and pressed a kiss into her hair. "Don't worry, I'll take care of everything."

"You always do." Carly gazed lovingly into Bo's eyes. "You're always taking care of me."

"It's my favorite job." He leaned over and covered her mouth with his in a tender kiss. Pulling back, he stared longingly into her verdant eyes and said, "But we do need to talk about something."

"What?" Carly asked, concerned at the serious expression on Bo's face.

"Well, now that Nick and Melanie know about the baby, I wondered how you might feel about other people knowing."

"Who did you have in mind?"

"I thought it would probably be a good idea to tell Ciara."

"Which means telling Hope," Carly finished.

"How do you feel about that?" Bo asked uncertainly.

In all honesty, the mere thought of Hope finding out that she was pregnant made Carly's stomach turn over on its side. Still, there was something to be said for telling Hope on their own terms rather than risk her finding out through some other means of communication, such as the Salem Grapevine.

"We can't keep it a secret forever," Carly reasoned and took a deep breath, exhaling it out in a long sigh. "Tell them."

"I'll try and talk to Hope while I'm out, maybe sit down with Ciara later this afternoon," he said, but Carly could tell by his expression that there was something more he wanted to say.

"What?" she prodded.

Bo swallowed and said, "I'd also like to tell Ma." Carly's stomach flipped all the way over.

"Your mother hates me."

Bo shook his head fervently. "No, she doesn't. She doesn't hate you," he argued.

"Yes, she does. She's barely said two words to me since I've been back in town, and they were, none of them, pleasant. She hates me," Carly repeated her original statement for emphasis.

"Look, whatever Ma's…feelings may be towards you, she doesn't hate you. She was…upset when you left me," Bo told her, trying to carefully navigate the mine field that was Carly's temper. He didn't want to rile her up when he was trying to get her to agree with him. "But if there's one thing she loves, it's her grandchildren. And I think she would take the news better if she hears it directly from me."

Carly worried her bottom lip between her teeth as she carefully considered Bo's proposal. Telling Hope, Ciara and Caroline Brady all in the same day? Still, in for a penny…

"All right," she said at last. "But are you sure that you want to take all that on by yourself? Maybe we should do it together," Carly suggested in a tone that made it clear to Bo that she would be infinitely grateful if he would not take her up on her offer.

"Let me take care of it. You just rest, and I'll be back later. I'll call and check on you in a couple of hours. Do you want some more ice before I go?"

Carly shook her head. "Not right now. Maybe I'll sleep some more after my medicine gets here."

"I love you, Princess," Bo told her as he left the room. Less than a minute later a nurse knocked on the door to administer the Zofran. Carly had just closed her eyes, fully intent on napping, when the door to her room flew open. Startled, Carly opened her eyes and blinked in surprise as Melanie barreled towards her. Melanie threw her arms around her mother and squeezed her tightly.

"You are absolutely not allowed to die!" Melanie exclaimed.

Bewildered, Carly replied, "Okay, I'll just cross dying off my schedule for the day."

"I'm serious!" Melanie admonished. "Vivian could have killed you! You could have bled to death and I'd never have gotten to tell you…" Melanie's voice failed her and she began to weep uncontrollably. Heartbroken for her daughter, Carly merely held her and let her cry. Eventually Melanie's sobs seemed to slow and she pulled back slightly from her mother.

"I love you, Mom," she whispered breathlessly.

"Oh, honey, I love you, too, so much!" Carly told her. She ran her fingers over Melanie's tear-stained cheeks. "But I'm fine. You don't need to worry. Vivian is finished. She can't hurt either of us anymore. Please don't cry."

Melanie nodded, wanting to believe her mother, but she'd lain awake all night envisioning all the different ways that Vivian's attack on Carly could have played out, all of them ending with Melanie staring over her mother's lifeless body. She'd wanted nothing more than to drive to the hospital in the middle of the night, knowing that she'd be unable to rest until she could see Carly. Only the fear that she'd be disturbing her mother's rest kept her from forcing Phillip to bring her to the hospital.

"Yesterday, when Phillip told me that you'd been hurt, I was so scared. We've only just found each other, and all I could think was that I was going to lose you."

"Melanie, you'll never lose me. No matter what happens, I'll always be in your heart."

"That isn't good enough. I want you with me, in my life. There's so much we've missed out on, but there's still so many things that I need you for. I want you to be here when I have my own babies. I want you to watch them grow up. I don't want to miss another minute of having my mom."

"We'll do all those things, sweetheart. I promise. We'll get our chance. I really believe that the bad times are over. You need to believe it, too."

"Okay," Melanie said. She grabbed a handful of tissues from the box next to Carly's bed and set about repairing the damage to her face. "I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to come in here and blubber all over you."

Carly waived away her daughter's concern. "I'm your mother. I think it's in my job description." Melanie laughed a little; then switched into nursing mode.

"How are you feeling? Is there anything I can get for you?" She was positively twitching with the need to be of use to her mother. She felt like she had to do something just to prevent jumping out of her skin. Her nerves were shot from worry and from the sheer lack of anything to do.

When they'd left the hospital yesterday afternoon, Phillip had handled things with D.A. Woods, who had assured them that he would give the case against Vivian his personal and immediate attention. Nick had dealt with getting extra security lined up with the police force, and once they had gotten home, Carys had cooked a three course meal. Melanie had done nothing, save wring her hands and fret over her mother.

Now that she was in Carly's presence, her hands itched with the need to provide some sort of service to her mother. Carly sensed her daughter's need and covered her hands with her own. "Just settle down, Melanie. Take some deep breaths and relax. I'm right here." Her tone was quiet, soothing, and Carly felt the tension flow out of Melanie as the sound of her voice washed over the girl's frayed emotions.

"Better?" Carly asked, when Melanie's breathing evened out. Melanie nodded her head slowly, nearly asleep herself.

"Thanks. I guess I was coming undone a little bit there." She gave her mother a tiny smile.

"Yet another trait you get from me, I'm afraid. Panic first, ask questions later." They shared a laugh. Talking with Melanie had dried out her mouth again, and Carly reached for her ice chips, only to discover that they had melted. Frowning, Carly held out the cup to Melanie.

"Honey, would you mind getting me some fresh ice?" Melanie beamed at the prospect of performing even such a small task for her mother.

"Of course! Can I get you anything else? Have you tried to eat anything yet this morning?"

Carly took a moment to consider the state of her stomach, which thanks to the zofran, had been quite peaceful since the medicine was given to her. "You know, I think I could eat something. Hmm, maybe some toast."

"I'll get you some from the cafeteria," Melanie said. "Do you want jam or anything?"

"Butter, I think, but only a little."

"Okay, I'll be right back." Carly smiled to herself as she watched Melanie scamper out the door. It was so good to finally have a relationship with her daughter. And to hear Melanie finally say that she loved her…Carly felt practically invincible. Nothing could put a damper on her morning.

Another knock on her door proved Carly wrong. Before she could even call out a greeting, the door opened slowly and Caroline Brady stepped into the room. Carly's stomach leapt skyward into her throat as she regarded Bo's mother. _Jesus H_. _Roosevelt Christ,_ Carly thought. This cannot be good.

Caroline walked wordlessly to the bed and sat down in the chair so recently vacated by Melanie.

"Carly," Caroline said at last, breaking the silence. "How are you feeling this morning?"

 _Like hurling_ , Carly answered in her mind. Aloud, she said, "Better. I'm in some pain, but it's nothing I can't stand."

Caroline nodded, and Carly couldn't help but wish the woman would just say whatever it is she'd come to say. Then maybe she'd leave and Carly could throw up in peace. The silence stretched out, a vast canyon between the two women, until Carly could no longer stand it. Biting the bullet, she said, "I guess you saw Bo?"

Another nod, clipped. "He stopped by the Pub this morning."

 _Okay_ , Carly thought. _Clearly you aren't going to make this easy on me. But I'm tougher than you think_. "And? What do you think?" Carly asked baldly.

Caroline blinked a few times, then let out a heavy sigh. "May I speak freely, Carly?"

"Please do."

"When you and Bo were involved before, Shawn and I were thrilled. We loved you like a daughter, Carly. We opened our hearts and our home to you. You were a wonderful mother to Shawn Douglas, and you made my son happier than I can ever remember seeing him.

"But then you left. After all you and Bo had been through, when it finally seemed that you two could have your life together, you chose to leave. You broke my boy's heart. Honestly, it would have been easier on Bo if you had really died!"

Carly gasped in surprise. She couldn't believe Caroline would say such a thing. She opened her mouth, a retort on the tip of her tongue, but Caroline continued on, plowing over Carly's attempt at speech.

"I know you think I'm being heartless. I understand that you left for your son. I know that you wanted to be a mother to him, and I can sympathize. There's nothing stronger than the bond between a mother and child. Well, Bo is my child, and your leaving nearly destroyed him! And now Bo tells me that you and he are having a baby. I won't stand by and allow you to hurt him again, Carly. Are you in this for keeps, or are you just using my son?"

"Oh, I get to participate in this conversation?" Carly asked, her ire rising by the second, right along with her blood pressure. "Listen, Caroline, I've always had nothing but the utmost respect for you. You practically raised my little brother. You were the mother I never had." Caroline looked surprised at that admission.

"Don't you think that I haven't replayed my decision to leave Bo over and over again all these years? Let me assure you, I have! Every time Lawrence hit me, every time he broke my ribs, each time he raped me until I passed out, every time he threatened to murder my baby girl, I would tell myself how stupid I was for walking away from Bo.

"I wept for him, praying that some how, some way, Bo would be able to save me. But he couldn't. I had to save myself, and I had to save my daughter. I've given up everything for my children, so don't tell me about a mother's love for her child.

"And now I've got another chance to get it right. Bo and I are together, and we've been given a miracle." Her hands drifted mindlessly over her womb, a motion that did not go unnoticed by Caroline. "Nicholas and Melanie have been restored to me, and I plan on spending the rest of my days making Bo happy. I hope that somehow you and I can find a way to get along, for Bo's sake and for our baby. This child will need its grandmother. I hope that you will welcome my baby in spite of how you may feel about me." Carly sat back and waited on Caroline's reaction. She was utterly flabbergasted when the older woman burst into tears.

 _Bloody hell! What now?_ Carly sat awkwardly in her bed, unsure as to what to do. Caroline was on her left side, but even had she been on her right, Carly wasn't sure if the woman would welcome her touch or slug her. Thankfully she was spared further hysterics as Caroline quickly got herself under control.

"Forgive me, Carly," Caroline said. "It wasn't my intention to be hateful to you, but when Bo told me this morning that you were pregnant, well, it gave me a turn. I had to see you, to see if I could get a feel for what you might do. I couldn't bear to see Bo go through the heartache of losing his child if you decided to leave again."

"Caroline, I won't leave Bo. I made that mistake once, and I don't plan on repeating it. Nothing can keep me from him. I truly didn't come here with the intention of renewing my relationship with Bo, but now that we're together, I'll only leave Bo if he asks me to."

"You and Bo will have a long road ahead of you."

"I know, but we'll walk it together. I won't cut and run this time," Carly said, meeting Caroline's inquisitive gaze.

"It won't be easy," Caroline retorted, and something in the woman's tone made her think that a small part of Caroline would rejoice if Carly were to take off, pregnant or not. Narrowing her eyes at Bo's mother, Carly steeled herself for battle.

"You know, Caroline, I hear what you're saying about not wanting to see Bo hurt. Yet I get the distinct impression that you'd also be pleased to see the back of me. So which is it? Do you really want Bo to be happy, even if it means being with me? Or would you rather I left if it meant that Bo could reconcile with Hope?"

Caroline sat back, caught unaware by Carly's bold questions. The woman certainly had guts, Caroline had to admit. Seeing no other alternative, Caroline spoke her mind.

"Do you know, Carly, when Bo and Hope left Salem after Shawn Douglas was born, I missed my son and grandson, but I always knew they would come home one day? Salem was home for Bo and Hope, and I knew they'd always come back.

"Then you came into Bo's life, and though I could see that you loved my son, I also knew that you had the power to take him from me. You aren't from here, Carly. You've traveled and lived all over the world, with no family to tie you to any one place. I always knew that if you wished, you could live anywhere in the world you wanted, and I knew that Bo would follow you. My son would be gone, with you, and selfish or not, I wanted him here, with me.

"So to answer your question, yes, I would rather Bo reunite with Hope because I know that at least it would mean I wouldn't lose him!" Caroline seemed shocked over her own admission, and Carly looked as though she were going to be sick.

"Well," Carly said at last, trying to keep her voice steady. "At least I know where I stand with you. But you're wrong about something, Caroline. I'd never had a home, until I came to Salem and found Bo. He is my home, and so are all the people he loves. I'm not going anywhere. Bo and I will be married and we are having a child together.

"How will I explain to my child why his grandmother and I can barely stand one another's presence? I don't want to place a burden on Bo by not getting along with his family, especially his mother. And I want our baby to know his grandmother. Will that be possible, Caroline? The choice is yours because I'm willing to do whatever it takes to ensure that this baby is surrounded by a large and loving family."

Caroline regarded the younger woman before her. She had no trouble believing that Carly was in love with her son, or that Bo felt the same way about Carly. She was not a stupid woman – she knew that Bo would never go back to Hope, even if Carly were to leave him. And there was a new life to consider, another grandbaby to love and cherish. Sighing deeply, Caroline nodded.

"I'll try, Carly. That's all I can promise."

"That's enough," Carly assured her.

Caroline studied the woman she had once considered a daughter. Satisfied at last that Carly was not going to break Bo's heart, Caroline covered her hand with her own. "I'm sorry for the things I said to you, Carly. I didn't mean them."

"It's all right, Caroline. Perhaps it's for the best that we clear the air between us. Maybe now we can start over?" she asked with a hopeful smile.

"I'd like that very much, dear. Now, Bo tells me you've been very sick the past few weeks. Are you able to keep anything down?"

Carly shook her head. "Not much, I've been much sicker this time than I was with Nicky or Melanie. Even the normally bland foods seem to upset me."

"With Bo, I threw up the whole nine months. I even threw up on the doctor in the delivery room!" Caroline laughed and Carly joined her.

"It wasn't my fault, though," Caroline insisted. "I kept telling the stupid man that I needed to push and he was just as determined that I didn't."

"I can imagine who won that particular argument," Carly speculated.

Caroline winked at her before saying, "I threw up all over the man and pushed at the same time. Bo shot out like a greased pig! A nurse caught him because the doctor was too concerned over the fact that he was covered in vomit. I never laughed so hard in my entire life as I did at the sight of that doctor trying to clean his glasses."

Both women were still laughing when Melanie appeared with fresh ice chips and hot, buttered toast for her mother. She looked surprised to see Caroline, but quickly recovered and handed the toast and ice to Carly.

"Hello, Melanie, how are you?" Caroline asked.

"Fine, Caroline, and you?" Melanie settled on the side of Carly's bed opposite Bo's mother.

"I'm very well, but I'm afraid I have to go. I have a restaurant that won't run itself. Carly, I'll bring some dumplings by this evening. They always seemed to settle my stomach when nothing else would."

"Thank you, Caroline. That sounds lovely." As soon as Caroline was gone, Melanie turned and stared expectantly at her mother, who was nibbling on a piece of toast.

"Well?"

"Well, what?"

Rolling her eyes, Melanie pointed over her shoulder in the direction Caroline had gone. "That! I doubt Caroline Brady just woke up this morning and decided to pay you a visit. What happened?"

Carly shrugged her shoulders and took another bite of toast. "Bo and I decided that it would probably be a good idea to go ahead and tell Caroline, Hope and Ciara about the baby. Caroline just wanted me to know how she felt."

"And? How does she feel?"

"We came to an…understanding. She knows I'm not going anywhere, and quite frankly, I think she's decided she simply has to put up with me."

"Still, though, you seemed like you were having a good time when I came in," Melanie pointed out.

"We were, but I think it's going to take more than a few laughs to win her trust." Polishing off the first piece of toast, Carly placed its twin on the tray table. At Melanie's questioning glance, she said, "Let's see if the first piece stays down."

"How do you feel? About the baby, I mean," Carly said, studying her daughter carefully. Her relief was palpable when an immediate grin broke out on Melanie's face.

"I'm so excited! I can't wait to be a big sister. I'm going to spoil this kid rotten!"

Carly chuckled at her daughter's natural exuberance. "You have no idea how much it means to me that you're happy about this, sweetheart. I want us all to be close, and I want you to be a big part of the baby's life."

"Please. You won't be able to get rid of me. I'll be under your feet every time you turn around."

"Nothing would make me happier."

Carly and Melanie continued to talk, and Carly was able to eat the second slice of toast and keep down her morning meal. With Melanie's chatter to distract her, Carly found that her physical discomfort severely lessened. Melanie made several trips to the ice machine for her mother and even fetched up some mashed potatoes from the cafeteria, which Carly was also able to eat. She also helped Carly make two wobbly, but ultimately successful – meaning neither of them collapsed from the effort – trips to the bathroom. By the time Daniel returned to check on his patient, Carly had already determined she was going to hold him to his promise of letting her take a shower.

"Well, you kept your half of the bargain," Daniel said with a quick check of her vital signs for the day. "I suppose I'd better keep mine."

"Too right," Carly assured him. "So as soon as Bo gets back, I get my shower, yes?"

Daniel nodded. "Just call for the nurse to help you cover up your i.v. port before you hit the shower," he advised. "And if you feel the slightest bit dizzy or weak, you'd better get back in bed."

"Cross my heart," Carly promised. Bo showed up just as Carly was, in fact, drawing an "x" pattern over the aforementioned organ. He had a large duffle bag slung over one shoulder and dropped it unceremoniously on the floor before leaning over to kiss Carly hello.

"What are you crossing your heart for?" Bo asked when the kiss ended.

"To get back in bed if she experiences any dizziness or weakness," Melanie volunteered.

"I gave her the go-ahead for a shower," Daniel explained when Bo looked confused.

"Does that mean you were able to eat?" Bo asked Carly.

"Yep," she answered, smiling brightly. "Toast this morning, mashed potatoes at lunch, and your mother promised me dumplings tonight."

"You talked to Ma?"

"Uh-huh," Carly nodded. "She came by to see me this morning."

"Really?" Bo was genuinely surprised. His mother had given no indication that she was planning on visiting Carly when he had spoken to her that morning.

"I'll tell you later," Carly promised. "Right now I want my shower."

"I think that's our cue to leave," Daniel said to Melanie. "Do you have time for coffee with your father?"

"Sure," Melanie answered and went to bid her mother goodnight. "I love you, Mom," she said, hugging Carly. "I'll see tomorrow."

"Night, honey. I love you, too." Carly beamed as she watched her daughter exit with her father.

"Mom?" Bo repeated, not quite believing what he'd heard. "I missed a lot."

"It's been a very good day," she assured him. "And the cherry on the sundae is that I haven't thrown up once!"

Bo smiled at Carly's enthusiasm, encouraged by her cheerful attitude. Heaven knew his own day had been anything but cheerful. He knew he'd have to tell her about his talks with Hope and Ciara, but for the moment he only wanted to be with her and let her presence wash away his troubles.

"I'm glad you're feeling better, Princess."

"Do you think we can get to my shower now?"

"Sure. Let me take our things into the bathroom and then I'll come back for you." Bo carried the bag into the adjoining bathroom. She could hear him puttering around, presumably setting out things she would need. Her stomach felt reasonably settled and the pain in her arm had been reduced to a dull throb, but the doctor in her knew that it could all change drastically once her feet hit the floor. Bo came out of the bathroom and stood next to the bed.

"All right. Let's take this nice and slow, okay? And you'd better tell me the second you feel weak or light-headed."

Carly nodded as though nothing but compliance had ever occurred to her.

"Liar," Bo said, laughing. "You'd fall over face-first before you'd admit to feeling weak."

Carly joined him in laughter. He really did know her all too well. "But you'll catch me, right?"

"Always, Princess," he vowed and couldn't resist leaning in to steal a kiss. He then pulled the covers off her and stepped back to allow her room to swing her legs over the side of the bed. She did so, albeit slowly, and sat still for a moment. Bo hovered uncertainly, as though she would keel over at any moment. When she remained upright, he slipped his arm around her and helped her to stand.

"Wait," he exclaimed, suddenly remembering that she was still hooked up to the i.v. When Carly looked at him, questioning why they were stopping, he gently lowered her back to the bed and wiggled the i.v. tubing.

"Go and get one of the nurses to cap it off," Carly told him and Bo immediately set off in search of a nurse. He returned quickly with one of the more chipper members of the nursing staff, a pretty young thing who Carly thought was called Janet. The girl had only been on staff for a few weeks.

"Hi, Dr. Manning! I'm Jennet, but everyone calls me Jenny."

Carly corrected the girl's name in her mental file to avoid calling her the wrong thing in the future.

"So we're going to take a shower this evening? Well, let's just cap off this i.v. so that water doesn't get into it. Then you'll be all set." The young nurse was overly perky, but the kindness in her eyes was genuine. She worked quickly and efficiently, and Carly was pleasantly surprised with her skill.

"There we are," Jenny proclaimed as she placed a final piece of tape over the port in Carly's left hand. "Now, just hit the call button when you're done with your shower and I'll run in and get you hooked back up."

"Thank you, Jenny," Carly said. The nurse gave a jaunty wave and closed the door behind her.

"Shall we try this again?" Carly asked, holding up her good arm. Bo quickly slid his arm around her waist and hauled her slowly up against him. He stood holding her for a moment, waiting to see if she was going to get dizzy. When it seemed to Bo that she was in no immediate danger of collapse, he began to lead her towards the open bathroom door.

He'd already started the water in order to get it to the perfect temperature for Carly – a few degrees shy of scalding – and steam billowed out over the top of the shower curtain. Bo stripped his clothes off and then divested Carly of her hospital gown. He stepped over into the tub and Carly followed him, moving slowly but steadily.

She stood for a few moments letting the warm spray wash over her. She felt Bo move behind her and then his hands were in her hair, gently working water through it until her dark tresses were saturated. He then massaged shampoo through her hair, fingers dancing magically over her scalp. He rinsed the lather from her hair and repeated his actions with conditioner, rinsing the cream from her hair until it hung slick and smooth as a fisher's pelt between her shoulder blades.

Carly stood meekly under Bo's careful ministrations, enjoying his touch and the feel of the water sloshing over them. When the last of the conditioner was gone from her hair, she turned suddenly in his arms and captured his mouth in a kiss. Bo's arms went around her waist, and she reveled in the feel of every inch of their naked flesh touching. Carly knew they shouldn't go any further; she truly couldn't have remained standing if Bo weren't holding her. But she just couldn't deny herself the pleasure of indulging in her need to feel her lover's body against hers.

Bo's mouth danced across the sensitive skin of her neck and placed an open-mouthed kiss in the hollow of her collarbone. He wanted nothing more than to take her against the shower wall, but he knew they couldn't. He contented himself by thoroughly acquainting his mouth with hers until they were both breathless and panting.

"We should get you clean," he gasped, trying desperately to rein in his desire.

Carly only nodded, unable to find her voice through the thick fog of lust that had settled over her brain. She gave herself over to Bo's gentle care, fully trusting him to support her while he washed her with the Dove soap she loved so much. When he'd lathered her from head to toe, Bo turned them around so she was back under the cascade of water from the shower head. He used his hands to direct the flow of water so that all the soap suds sluiced down her body.

"Can you stand up long enough for me to rinse off?" he asked her, fully prepared to put off his own shower if she needed to get off her feet.

"I'm okay," Carly assured him. In truth, she was weak in the knees, but she couldn't say if it was due to her injury or her desire for Bo. She likely thought it was both, but she could no more resist the urge to touch Bo's naked skin than she could suppress her need for oxygen. She took the soap from him and worked up a generous lather between her hands before administering the same service to him that he'd so recently provided to her.

When her hands took hold of his already stiff cock, Bo growled and pushed her gently against the shower wall. "Do you have any idea how much I want you right now?" His voice sounded rough in her ear.

"Why don't you show me?" she challenged him and slid one of her legs higher against his. Bo got the idea and hefted her so that both of her legs went around his waist, and his cock nudged the welcoming folds of her sex. They both groaned as Bo sheathed himself fully inside of her.

Carly was so far gone that after only three thrusts she was coming. Bo pumped his hips twice more and spilled inside of her. Carly lowered her legs back to the shower floor, nothing but Bo's body preventing her sliding down the wall. Bo kept one arm securely around her waist and fumbled with the other hand to turn off the water.

Somehow they managed to get out of the shower, dried off and dressed without injury. Bo half-carried Carly back to the bed and deposited her carefully onto the waiting mattress. She relaxed gratefully against the pile of pillows, eyes closed and panting slightly from her physical exertion. Taking in the dark circles under her eyes, the only color in an otherwise wan face, Bo was racked with guilt over their little rendezvous in the shower.

"You are not to feel the slightest bit guilty, Bo Brady," she admonished him.

"I shouldn't have taken advantage of you like that," he countered. Emerald eyes opened and Carly's mouth spread into an easy grin.

"No advantage taken, baby. I was a willing participant."

"Still, I'm afraid we over-did things, and now I'm worried you'll get sick."

"I feel fine, Bo, honestly. I'm worn out, but it's a good kind of tired." As a matter of fact, Carly felt like she could sleep for a week in post-coital bliss. Bo continued to look forlorn, though, and she couldn't have that. It took an effort of Herculean proportions, but Carly managed to sit up on her own and grabbed a fist-full of Bo's gray t-shirt with her good hand, effectively hauling him closer to her.

"No regrets," she whispered and silenced any further protests by slanting her mouth over his. Bo melted under her touch, all his fears dissolving as her tongue lazily mated with his own. He'd never get enough of kissing this woman. His need for her knew no bounds.

After minutes or hours, Bo couldn't be sure, of Carly's mouth making love to his, the woman he loved slipped out of his arms and lay back against her pillows. "You were saying?" she asked, and laughed a bit when Bo only shook his head as though to clear it.

"I have absolutely no idea. Were we talking?"

Carly smiled and patted the space next to her on the bed, inviting Bo to lie beside her. He stretched out next to her as best as they could in the narrow confines of the hospital bed, but finally settled comfortably with Carly turned on her right side and Bo spooned behind her so as not to put undue pressure on her stitches. The water from her hair was soaking the pillow beneath her, but Carly couldn't have forced herself to move from Bo's arms if the bed had been on fire. She'd ask the nurse for a fresh pillow when she came to hook up the i.v. again.

Realizing they'd yet to call for the nurse, Carly pressed the call button and waited for someone to answer. When a nurse responded, Carly informed the voice that she was done with her shower and needed her Tylenol and another pillow. The disembodied voice assured her that her nurse would be right in, and within minutes, Jenny's smiling face appeared at the door, medicine cup in one hand and a pillow in the other.

Carly gratefully took the medication from Jenny and swallowed under the young nurse's watchful gaze. "How's your nausea?" Jenny asked when she had placed the new pillow on the bed.

"It's all right. When do I get another dose of zofran?"

"I'll check your chart, but I believe it should be within the hour. Is there anything I can get you in the meantime?"

Carly shook her head, already settling back in Bo's embrace.

"Thank you, Jenny," Bo told her and the nurse left with a parting smile for the both of them.

"She seems really nice," Bo said.

"Yes, she does," Carly agreed, then craned her head as far as she could to look at him over her shoulder. "Now spill."

"Spill what?" Bo asked, as though he had no idea what she was talking about.

"I could tell from your face when you walked in here that you'd had a rough day. I take it things didn't go well when you saw Hope and Ciara?"

"Let's not talk about it right now. Just let me hold you for a while," he pleaded, which led Carly to believe that the confrontation with Hope and their daughter must have been truly awful.

"I think we'd better get it over with," she told him and began the laborious effort of twisting her body around so she could face him. Bo sighed heavily and helped her to shift in the bed, until he sat up and turned towards her, leaving her propped against the head of the bed. Needing to touch her, Bo grasped her right hand in his.

"What happened, baby?" Carly asked tenderly.

"It wasn't like I expected Hope would want to throw us a baby shower or anything," Bo began. "But I sure as hell never dreamed she'd react the way she did."

"Tell me," Carly insisted

"I'm not sure if I should," Bo replied. "I don't to want to upset you. I don't want it to aggravate your nausea."

"Wondering and worrying about you is what will make me sick, Bo. Just tell me. Whatever it is we'll handle it together."

Bo nodded and lifted Carly's hand to his lips, brushing a gentle kiss over her knuckles. "All right," he said at last. "But don't say I didn't warn you."


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Hope opened the door, surprised at finding Bo on the doorstep of his former residence.

"Bo! What are you doing here?" She appeared ready to head out somewhere, but Bo didn't pause long enough to wonder about her destination. He pushed past her into the living room, forcing her to spin around to face him.

"What are you doing here?" She repeated. Bo shifted nervously from one foot to the other. The conversation with his mother had gone better than he expected, but he harbored no such optimism that this one would follow suit. Deciding that honesty and forthrightness were his best and only options, Bo took a deep breath. _Just get it over with, Brady, and let the chips fall where they may_ , his conscience advised him.

"I need to talk to you, right now," he said, urgency evident in his voice.

"All right, let's sit down," she answered and dropped her jacket and purse on the arm chair. Bo nodded and sat rigidly on the sofa. Hope sat down on the opposite end, waiting on him to begin their discussion.

"Are we alone?" The last thing he needed was for Ciara to pop in. He had to talk to Hope first before he could see his daughter.

"Yes, Ciara is at school. Why? What's going on?" Hope looked genuinely confused.

"I need to talk to you about Carly, well about me and Carly." Hope stiffened at the mention of Carly's name, but she didn't say anything, only regarded him with suspicion in her eyes. Bo knew what he had to say would hurt Hope, but he also knew it would be better if it came from him. Still, he couldn't force the words from his mouth.

Hope, growing agitated by his continued silence, asked, "What is it? Victor told me what Vivian did to Carly. Did something else happen? Did she…take a turn for the worse?" Though Hope sounded concerned, Bo could swear that there was also a hint of satisfaction in her voice at the thought that Carly might have gotten worse. His head jerked up, but when he studied her face he found nothing but open concern.

"No, no, Carly's much better, actually. She had kind of a rough night from the pain, but Daniel says she'll make a full recovery in no time. But listen, what I need to talk to you about, what you need to know, well, I wanted you to hear it from me first. It's important."

"So tell me," she said, and Bo sensed she was losing patience with him.

"Carly is pregnant. We're having a baby." He watched Hope carefully. Shock, hurt and disbelief all flitted briefly across her face before her features melded into an expression of anger. Oh, boy, was she mad.

"That woman is pregnant?" Hope's voice was quiet, but Bo knew her well enough to know that her temper was about to explode. "How could you?" she shouted at him, jumping up from the sofa. "You're my husband, and you got your mistress pregnant!"

Bo remained seated, fairly confident that nothing he could have said to Hope at the moment would have penetrated the cloud of fury that surrounded her. But when she began to verbally attack Carly, calling her a whore, a home-wrecker and various and sundry other hateful and unpleasant adjectives, Bo drew the line. No one, not even Hope, had the right to talk about Carly.

He launched himself off the sofa and grabbed Hope by the arms, not hard enough to hurt her, but he had to pin her arms to her sides to prevent her hitting him. "Listen to me, Hope! Listen!" He had to shout to project his voice over her shrieks. Wild-eyed, she finally shut up and met his gaze. For one instant, to Bo, she looked absolutely stark-raving mad. Then the demented glaze receded from her eyes, only to be replaced by an eerie calm that Bo found more worrisome than her screeching.

"It's all right, Bo. Everything will be fine." Hope slipped out of Bo's restraining grip and wandered over to the fireplace where she busied herself with examining the different decorative knickknacks resting on the mantle. Bo stood where she left him, not sure what to make of her actions. Slowly, Hope turned to him…and smiled. Chills went skittering down Bo's spine.

"Carly can get an abortion. Or she can have the baby, it really doesn't matter. But now that she's reconciled with her son and daughter, she can leave. You'll never have to see the child. And after all, with her track record, how can you even be sure that it's yours? Either way, she'll be gone, and you and I and Ciara will resume our lives together. I forgive you for your betrayal of our marriage.

"I know you were going through a phase, a mid-life crisis, I guess, and now it's out of your system. You love me, and we'll live out the rest of our lives, together. It will be like these last few months never happened. Everything can go back to normal."

Hope stood there smiling at him, and Bo wondered briefly if he'd hit his head at some point and was now having some kind of horrible hallucination. Surely Hope wasn't actually standing in front him, thinking they could reconcile and that Carly would just go away. Bo watched, aghast, as Hope made her way over to him. She twined her arms around his neck and leaned up, clearly intent on kissing him. Spurred into action by panic, Bo recoiled from Hope's would-be embrace and moved backwards several steps. Confusion settling on her features, Hope followed him, trying to get her arms around him.

Bo continued to move backwards, until he felt the wall at his back. He side-stepped her and backpedaled towards the kitchen, nearly tripping over the coffee table in his haste to get away. He had to get though to Hope. She was obviously suffering from some sort of…episode, and Bo didn't know what to do. Somehow he had to get her back in the real world.

They had moved all around the room together and Bo found himself pressed against the front door, retreat effectively halted. Hope walked up to him, but before she could put her arms around him again, Bo grabbed them and forced them back down. He kept hold of her hands, though, in an effort to control her.

"Hope. You and I are not together. We never will be again." He kept his tone even and spoke slowly, carefully enunciating each word. "Remember? You filed for our divorce yourself several weeks ago. We're only waiting on the court to certify it. Carly and I are in love. We're having a baby. We're going to be married just as soon as my divorce to you goes through. You have to accept it and get on with your life."

Hope stood stock-still in front of him, her hands still held in place by his. Her eyes, blank and unseeing, were fixated on some unknown point over Bo's shoulder.

"Hope. Hope! Are you listening to me? Can you hear me?" For a split second Bo was reminded of the hell his life had been when Hope had thought she was Gina Von Amberg. Hope's eyes were open, but gave no indication that she was on the same planet as Bo, let alone the same room. Bo shook her a little, trying to get her to snap out of what ever it was that had taken hold of her mind. Amazingly, the movement did the trick. Hope blinked a couple of times and seemed to come back to herself. She pulled away from Bo's grasp and made her way over to the sofa.

"So Carly is pregnant?" she asked as though she were inquiring after the weather. "When is the baby due?"

Bo, utterly flabbergasted by Hope's whiplash-inducing personality switch, replied automatically, "November."

"Is that all you wanted to talk about, to tell me that Carly is pregnant?" Hope's tone remained pleasant and Bo found himself merely nodding in response. He wanted to get the hell out of Dodge before Hope flipped out again. He was beginning to realize that there was something seriously wrong with his soon-to-be ex-wife.

"Well, thank you for taking the time to tell me in person, Bo. That really means a lot. I assume you'll want to tell Ciara now?" Bo could feel himself nodding again dumbly and began turning the doorknob, slowly, in an effort not to alarm Hope.

"That's fine, then," Hope answered and her lips slid into a smile that Bo could only describe as one degree shy of maniacal. "I'll leave it to you to tell her. Give Carly my best."

"Sure, Hope. I'll, um, talk to you…later," he stuttered and beat a hasty retreat to the safer confines of his car. He stopped the car at the end of the driveway and took a moment to gather his wits. He'd expected Hope to be unhappy, maybe shed a few tears. Hell, he'd even been prepared for her temper. But that, what ever it was, he had not been expecting that.

Bo readily admitted to himself that Hope was, for lack of a better word, unstable. For a few moments, she had not been aware of the reality that their lives had been for the past few months. With a final glance in the rearview mirror and the house reflected in it, Bo drove away, and tried to shake off the nagging feeling that what ever was wrong with Hope would eventually spill out into all of their lives, with lasting negative effects.

Carly listened intently as Bo relayed in intricate detail his encounter with Hope.

"What do you think?" Bo asked when he'd finished his tail.

"I'm no psychiatrist, Bo, but it sounds like Hope has had some sort of psychotic break."

"But Hope isn't crazy," Bo said, but then immediately recognized that if he witnessed that kind of behavior in anyone else, he'd happily declare that person nutty as a fruitcake. Carly, following his mental path, nodded her head when she could see understanding dawn on him.

"Something has happened to her, Bo, whether it's stress from your divorce or drugs or…"

"Drugs!" Bo exclaimed, the thought just occurring to him. "Hope would never…" He trailed off, remembering that Hope had, in point of fact, done many, many things that he would have never dreamed her capable of.

"She might," Carly said. "Bo, you never know what a person might do when confronted with a situation that they can't handle. Believe me, I know what I'm talking about. Maybe Hope couldn't really accept that your marriage was over."

"But she was so…agreeable when we discussed the divorce. And even when we talked to Ciara, she was so…reasonable. She was perfectly fine when I told her that I was moving in with you."

"And from the way you described her actions today, I'd say she's taken an extended trip to Looney-ville. There's obviously something wrong with her. What that is, I don't pretend to know. But normal people, people with a healthy grasp on reality, don't react that way."

"She scared me, Carly, when she talked about you getting an abortion or leaving. It was like she was telling me we were getting a new sofa or something. And the way she looked at me - the light was on but nobody was at home, you know?"

"What about Ciara? Do you think Hope can take care of her?" Carly wondered.

"I don't know what to think, Princess. When I first started talking to Hope, she seemed perfectly fine. And even when I told her about the baby, she was angry, but it was still…" His mind fumbled for the right word.

"Normal?" Carly supplied.

"Yes, I expected her to be mad or even to cry, and she did. But then she went somewhere else, somewhere inside her head, where she and I were still going to be together and you were just some sort of…detour. Honestly, for a few minutes I was downright terrified of her."

Bo laid his head in Carly's lap, and she stroked his hair, wishing she could rid him of the tension that was emanating from his every pore. The experience with Hope had obviously shaken him, and it left Carly feeling not a little frightened herself.

"Did you even get to see Ciara?" she asked, privately thinking that as poorly as the episode with the mother had gone, the confrontation with the daughter could have scarcely gone better. Bo surprised her when he looked up at her and smiled a bit.

"Actually, I did. When I left Hope's I went to Ciara's school. It was her half-day today and I wanted to pick her up and talk to her alone. I couldn't take the chance that Hope would get to her first with our news, not after the way she was acting. Anyway, Ciara was glad to see me and I told her that you and I were going to have a baby."

"And?" Carly prompted, irritated when he didn't immediately divulge the details of his time with Ciara. Was he trying to kill her with the suspense?

"And she wanted to know if that meant you were going to be her new mommy. I told her no, but that it did mean that she was going to be a big sister. She asked to see the baby, and I told her the baby still had to grow inside your tummy. I asked her how she felt about being a big sister and she told me that since she already had a brother, she'd really like to have a sister. I told her we'd have to wait a few more months before we knew what we were getting."

"It's sounds as though she took the news pretty well," Carly said. _Better than her mother,_ at any rate. Bo was still smiling, and it did her heart good to see him so optimistic about his little girl. Carly was trying her best to like the little demon, er, darling, but she felt that, thus far, she had simply endured the child for the sake of her father. Still, hope springs eternal…perhaps the girl had inherited some personality traits from her father that would manifest as time went on.

"I think Ciara will be fine, but I am worried about Hope," Bo was saying and Carly quickly broke off her internal monologue to focus on him. "There is definitely something wrong with her. I'm almost afraid for Ciara to be alone with her."

"What did you do with her after your talk?"

"I took her to her little friend, Elizabeth's house. Elizabeth's mom, Karen, is watching her, and Hope was supposed to pick her up. I spoke with Karen on my way back to the hospital, and she said Hope had just left with Ciara, but she didn't mention that Hope was acting strange. Maybe that's a good sign?"

"Possibly. Perhaps Hope just needed to blow off steam, but, Bo, I still think you should keep a close eye on her. I don't think we can just write off the kind of breakdown that Hope had today."

Bo knew Carly was right, but why in the hell did things have to be so hard for them? The last thing he wanted to have to focus on right now was Hope. Thoughts of Ciara witnessing her mother's bizarre behavior, though, if he failed to take action, left his stomach feeling hollow.

"You're right, Princess. I really don't like the idea of Ciara being alone with Hope right now. At least, not until I can figure out what's happening."

"Well, you could always take Ciara back to our house for a few days. Melanie and Carys could help you get her back and forth to school, and with me still cooped up here for the next several days, it would give you and Ciara some time together."

"But I'd have to ask Hope," Bo pointed out. "And who knows which Hope I'd be talking to."

"What about Julie?" Carly asked. "Would you feel comfortable talking to her about your run-in with Hope? Maybe she could come for a visit, kind of check up on her and Ciara."

Bo looked slightly disconcerted at the thought of calling his sister-in-law, but he nodded at last. "That might be the best thing. I'll call Julie in the morning, but that still doesn't solve anything for tonight. The more I think about it, the more worried I get about Ciara alone with Hope tonight."

Before Carly could respond, someone knocked on her door and Caroline entered, carrying a covered dish containing what Carly prayed were her dumplings in one hand and holding tight to Ciara's hand with the other.

"Well, there you are," Carly said. "Problem solved." Bo immediately jumped up to greet his mother and daughter. Caroline handed Ciara to Bo and presented Carly with the promised dumplings. Carly smiled gratefully and tucked into her supper, niceties be damned. She was starving.

Caroline, pleased with Carly's apparent appetite, turned her attention to her son and granddaughter.

"How'd you end up with Ciara, Ma?" Bo asked, holding Ciara in his arms. The little girl rested her head on her daddy's shoulder and regarded her grandma and Carly with solemn eyes.

Caroline took a moment to consider her choice of words, not wishing to alarm her little granddaughter any further. The child had been plenty upset when her mother turned up at the Pub with her.

"Hope had something to do, an…errand of some sort, I believe she said, and she dropped by the Pub with Ciara and wanted me to watch her. Of course I was thrilled to see my little angel so I said I'd gladly keep her."

"Aren't you happy to see me, Daddy?" Ciara asked.

"I'm super excited to see you, Little One," Bo rushed to assure his daughter. He stroked her hair and dropped a kiss on her forehead. "I'm just surprised, that's all. It is a school night, after all, and I didn't expect to get to visit with you until this weekend."

"I didn't want to go anywhere tonight, but Mommy said she had to go out and I had to come to Grandma's. She was acting all funny, Daddy. I think she was mad at me, but I don't know what I did wrong."

The three adults exchanged a series of worried glances over the little girl's head. Bo sat Ciara on the foot of Carly's bed. "Hey, Little One, can you sit here and take care of Carly for me for a few minutes?" Ciara looked slightly puzzled, but nodded her head at last.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"I just need to talk to Grandma outside for a minute, but it would really mean a lot to me if you would keep Carly company. Can you do that?" The little girl nodded again, but looked happy to be performing such a grown-up task for her daddy. Carly sought out Bo's eyes with her own, letting him know that she understood what he was up to.

Outside Carly's room, safely away from little ears, Caroline voiced her fears about Hope. "If I didn't know better, Bo, I'd swear she was on drugs! At the very least, she looked like she'd crawled into a whisky bottle. Her eyes were glassy and she even stumbled a bit on her way out the door. Ciara had been crying, I could tell, but she wouldn't tell me what about. I told Hope that I was coming to the hospital to see you and Carly, but I don't even think she heard me. She just dropped off Ciara and her backpack and left. She didn't say where she was going or when to expect her back. What on earth is going on?"

"I don't know, Ma," Bo answered. He quickly hit the highlights of his own encounter with Hope and confessed that he and Carly thought Hope might be going through some sort of mental breakdown.

"Well, something is going on, that's for sure. What are you going to do about it? I understand that you're worried for Carly and the baby, but you've got to make Ciara a priority, too, Bo."

"You think I don't know that, Ma?" Bo asked, annoyed that his mother would even think he wasn't concerned enough over Ciara. "I can't fix Hope. Hell, I don't even know what's wrong with her! Carly and I were just discussing how best to care for Ciara when you two showed up."

"What does Carly think?" Caroline was trying very hard to move past the resentment she had harbored for Carly all these years, and though she was making great strides, it still didn't change the fact that her son and Carly were in the middle of a very sticky mess.

"She suggested taking Ciara to our place for a few days so we could maybe get a better handle on the situation with Hope. She also thinks I should call Julie and have her check on Hope."

"Both of those are good ideas, but I'm afraid we're only putting a band-aid over a bullet hole."

"Yeah, but if it buys me some time to figure Hope out, I'll do it," Bo said.

"Should you call Julie now? I can stay here with Carly and Ciara," Caroline offered and Bo nodded, already pulling his phone from his pocket. "Go on, Ma, I'll be in when I'm done."

Caroline ducked back in Carly's room, and she was delighted to find her granddaughter giggling over something Carly had told her. "Grandma!" Ciara exclaimed, scrambling around on the bed to look at Caroline. "Carly just told me that the baby in her tummy is no bigger than a jelly bean! Isn't that funny?" Ciara plainly found this little tidbit of information highly entertaining, and some of the anxiety Caroline was carting around dissipated with the peals of little girl laughter.

Caroline remembered fondly how Carly had bonded with Shawn Douglas when he was a little boy. Seeing her bond a bit with her youngest grandchild now went a great deal towards thawing any remaining cold feelings she had towards the younger woman. _Maybe they can make a go of it after all,_ Caroline mused.

"Is Bo…" Carly trailed off, not wanting to alarm Ciara in any way.

"He's making a phone call, dear. He'll be back shortly. Did the dumplings sit well on your stomach?"

Grinning, Carly answered, "Best meal I've had in ages, Caroline. Your dumplings are ambrosia as far as I'm concerned."

"Your color looks better than it did this morning," Caroline remarked and was mildly surprised when a blush bloomed across Carly's cheeks.

"I had a good day," Carly offered in explanation. Caroline suspected that had rather a lot to do with her son, but she kept her thoughts to herself.

"You deserve to have a good day, dear," Caroline said and patted Carly's hand.

"Thank you, Caroline. It means a great deal to me that you're here."

"Grandma, am I spending the night with you?" Ciara asked.

"You know, sweetheart, I'm not sure. I think that's what your daddy is checking on right now. We'll ask him when he comes back, all right?"

"Okay," the little girl agreed. "Carly, how long will it be before I can see the baby?" she asked, her mind switching gears at a speed only children were capable of.

"Well, the baby will be born in November, and it's April now. Can you count how many months are between April and November?" Carly asked, trying to keep Ciara distracted. She and Caroline watched as the little girl's face scrunched up in an effort to think. She held up both her hands and began ticking off her fingers one by one, muttering the names of the months under her breath. Reaching November, she smiled at Carly in triumph and announced, "Seven!"

"That's right, Ciara. You're a very smart little girl," Carly said honestly.

"But seven seems like a long time," Ciara complained. "It's almost forever."

"It isn't quite that long," Caroline told her. "And the time will go by very quickly, you'll see."

"Is your belly gonna get big?" Ciara asked, eyeing Carly's flat stomach with interest. "My friend Elizabeth has a little brother and her mom's belly got really big." Ciara stretched her arms out in front of her as far as they would go, demonstrating the girth of Elizabeth's mom's belly. Carly couldn't contain her laughter, and Ciara smiled shyly at her.

"It will get bigger, I promise," Carly told her. "And as the baby gets bigger, he'll start to move around and kick inside me. You'll be able to feel it, too, if you put your hand on my tummy." This piece of information drew the brightest smile from Ciara that Carly had ever witnessed from the normally stoic child.

"I'll really get to feel the baby in your tummy?" she asked, wonder filling her voice.

"Of course, you can, Ciara. You're the big sister, after all," Carly pointed out and she was pleased to note that Ciara's smile shone even brighter than before. _Maybe there's hope for you yet, kid_ , Carly thought, thrilled that the gap between her and Bo's daughter seemed to be narrowing.

"What's this I hear about big sisters?" Bo asked as he slipped into the room. He scooped Ciara off the bed and spun her around the room, making the little girl squeal in delight. Giggling, Ciara told her daddy what she and Carly had been discussing.

"And Carly says I'll get to feel the baby kick when her tummy gets bigger 'cause I'm the big sister!" Bo and Carly's eyes met, and though she could sense that he was struggling under the weight of some pressing issues, she could also see some of the tension drain away.

"She's exactly right, Little One, and you know something? I think you are going to be the best big sister ever!" He sat down on the foot of Carly's bed, settling Ciara on his lap, but all three adults were shocked when Ciara clambered out of Bo's lap and settled herself next to Carly, wrapping her tiny arms around the gob smacked woman. Carly looked at Bo, who seemed ready to move Ciara, but she quickly shook her head and laid her injured arm around the little girl's shoulders.

"I like you, Carly," the child said sincerely. "You're nice." Ciara rested contentedly next to Carly, who finally regained the power of speech.

"I like you, too, Ciara," Carly assured her and the child beamed at her in response.

Caroline, having nearly fallen over in shock when Ciara had moved next to Carly, recovered and asked Bo how his phone calls went. Bo drew his eyes away from the tableau created by the love of his life and his daughter and focused on his mother.

"I wondered if you'd be willing to take Ciara for the night, Ma. There are a couple of problems down at the station that I need to take care of. Melanie is going to pick her up from school tomorrow and take her back to our place. She's going to be spending the next few days with us."

Caroline knew there was much more to these recent developments than Bo was sharing right now, but she kept her suspicions to herself, rightly guessing that her son didn't want his daughter to hear anything that might upset her.

"Of course. I'll take her to school in the morning, but we should probably get going so I can get her into bed at a decent hour. Hear that, Missy?" Caroline spoke to Ciara. "It's almost a certain someone's bedtime." Ciara grumbled a bit and nestled closer to Carly, looking to her to magically postpone the dreaded bedtime hour. Carly smiled at her and leaned down to whisper something in her ear. Ciara giggled again and whispered something back to Carly, who promptly nodded her head. Satisfied, Ciara disentangled herself from Carly and went willingly to her grandmother.

Bo knelt down to kiss his daughter and bid her goodnight, then stood up to hug his mother. "Thanks, Ma. I'll call you tomorrow, okay?"

"All right, son. You know I'll help in any way I can. And Carly, if you get a craving for anything tomorrow, just give me a call. I'll bring it right over."

"Thank you, Caroline, for everything," Carly said, truly grateful that she and Bo's mother were beginning to repair their relationship. With a final nod at Bo and Carly, Caroline led Ciara from the room. Bo closed the door behind them and leaned against it, suddenly overcome with exhaustion. Sighing heavily, Bo heaved himself away from the door and crossed the room to Carly, who opened her arms to her lover.

Drawing strength from her embrace, Bo nuzzled Carly's neck and tenderly kissed the spot behind her ear. "I love you, Princess." His words caressed her flesh like a touch, and Carly pulled him closer to her.

"I love you, too, Bo. But I think you'd better tell me what's going on. I gather that your 'problems at the station' excuse was code for something going on with Hope, am I right?"

"Yes, but it actually is a problem at the station. Hope was arrested tonight, on a DUI."

"Hope was driving drunk?"

"I couldn't believe it at first, either. But she's currently sleeping it off in the drunk tank. The guys are trying to keep it under wraps, for obvious reasons, but Matthews called me to let me know what was going on. I went ahead and called Doug and Julie and they're coming out tomorrow. I told them everything, and they agree that something is going on with Hope, something more than just our marriage ending." Bo massaged his temple, feeling one hell of a tension headache coming on.

"Is there anything I can do?" Carly asked, knowing even as she offered that there was precious little assistance she could provide.

"Love me."

"I can totally do that." She covered his mouth with hers, and Bo was able to block out the world for the few moments that her lips were on his. Reluctantly pulling away, Bo brushed a strand of now-dried hair from Carly's face. He loved the way her hair looked when she let it dry naturally in soft curls and wavy strands. Of course, he pretty much loved everything about the woman in his arms.

"I hate to leave you here by yourself, but I feel like I need to go sort this out with Hope."

"I understand," Carly assured him, and she truthfully did understand. Both of them had plenty of baggage, emotional and otherwise, and she was willing to help Bo take any action necessary to work though all of it so they could have their life together. "I'll be fine. Jenny should be in soon with my next dose of zofran, and then I think I really need to sleep. And I would really love it if, when you're done at the station, you would go home and sleep in our bed."

Bo started to protest, but Carly put a finger to his lips to silence him. "Please, baby, do it for me? I'd feel a hundred times better to know you had gotten some rest."

"I can rest here, with you. I'll be back as soon as I can, and I can sleep here. I'll bet we can even get a cot in here for me if you'd be more comfortable in your bed alone."

Carly shook her head, and Bo knew by the determined gleam in her jade eyes that resistance was futile. "Bo, you need a good night's sleep and you won't get that on a cot or in a chair. God knows what you'll get into at the station so please, go home and sleep tonight in our bed, for me. In the morning, you can come back to me. I promise to stay put."

Bo made one last effort to get Carly to relent by pointing out how sick she'd been the night before and how much she'd needed him. "What if you get sick again? You need someone here with you."

Carly pointed to the call button for the nurse. "We have these great people here on staff at the hospital. They're called nurses, and it's their jobs to assist patients with anything they need. All I have to do is press this little red button and one will come running."

"All right, smarty, I know when to throw in the towel. I never could say no to you anyway."

"Thank you," Carly said smiling broadly. "I love you so much, Bo."

"I love you, too, Princess." Bo kissed her thoroughly, knowing that he wouldn't get another chance to do so until the morning. "Get some rest. Nick's bodyguards and two of my officers are right outside. No one is going to get to you."

"I know. Now go. I'll see you in the morning. Oh, and you have to bring Ciara by to see me tomorrow afternoon. I promised her that she could come by after school."

"Oh, so that's what you two were whispering about," Bo said, smiling a bit at the memory of Carly and Ciara getting along so well. "I'll get it worked out with Melanie since she agreed to pick up Ciara from school. Goodnight, Princess." Bo's lips brushed hers once more, and then he was gone.

Carly settled more comfortably in the bed and closed her eyes, trying not to listen to the doubts currently running through her head. She had no doubts whatsoever about Bo and their love, but she feared they had a fight ahead of them with these new problems with Hope. Her last thought before succumbing to the lure of sleep was that she had come too far and overcome too much to let anything, even Hope and her mental health, come between her and Bo.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

"I want to see her."

Bo shook his head and folded his arms over his chest, eyes locked with Carly's in a battle of wills. "No way. I can't even believe you're asking."

"I have to. Think of it as therapy."

Bo shook his head again. There was no way in hell he was giving into Carly, not over this. "How about we go home and leave the crazy lady to the doctors?"

"I'm not budging an inch until I see Vivian," Carly answered, crossing her arms in a stance that mirrored Bo's. Patience running thin, Bo stepped closer to Carly and placed his hands around her waist. Picking her up, he moved her approximately one inch from her point of origin and stepped back.

"There. You budged an inch. Now let's go." Behind him he heard Nick snorting in laughter. Nick's mother, however, was not amused.

"Bo, I really don't understand why you're being so difficult about this. And as for you, young man," Carly said, turning her lethal, emerald gaze on her eldest child, "Just what do you find so funny?" Discretion being the better part of valor, Nick promptly shut up. It was every man for himself; Bo was on his own.

"Carly, why do you want to see the woman who tried to murder you?" Bo asked. "What good will it do?"

Carly sighed deeply and stepped closer to Bo. "I need to see Vivian, Bo. It isn't really something I can explain, but I have to do it. I know what the psychiatrist said, that Vivian is completely out of her head, but I have to see it for myself."

"You think she's faking, don't you?"

"I do. It worked for her the last time she tried to kill me," Carly said, referring to when Vivian had buried her alive. "And I, for one, do not intend to let history repeat itself."

"And what?" Bo continued. "I suppose you're just going to waltz into her room and magically get her to confess all her sins?"

"No, of course not," Carly answered. She hesitated, knowing full well the reaction her plan was likely to garner from Bo. "I was hoping to provoke her."

Bo blinked disbelievingly at Carly. "Provoke her? Provoke the woman who stole your baby from you, who drugged you and buried you alive, who tried to stab you to death barely a week ago? Do I need to have Daniel call for a psych evaluation for you?"

"Bo, if you'd stop yelling at me and just listen…"

"Listen to what?" Bo interrupted her. "Listen to you spout off some bull-shit reason why you know better how to handle Vivian Alamain than I do? Princess, my goal in life is to keep that woman as far from you and our family as possible. Why do you think I'd agree to let you personally confront her?"

Carly knew Bo was worried about her. She was worried about herself. But she had to see Vivian. There was no other option, and Bo's obstinate nature was beginning to piss her off. "I wasn't aware I was asking for your permission."

Bo wasn't sure if he wanted to throttle the woman in front of him or pull her to him and kiss her senseless, thereby rendering her much more pliable and easier to influence. It was Saturday, and Daniel and Anne had released Carly to go home. He and Nick were there to pick her up, but Carly, being Carly, had decided she was not leaving until she had seen Vivian Alamain.

Staring at her, beautiful features set into a stubborn glare, Bo was greatly tempted to throw her over his shoulder and cart her out of the hospital. Concluding such an action would likely only result in his own hospitalization, Bo bit back the bitter retort on the tip of his tongue and tried a vastly different approach.

"Carly, please listen to me," he pleaded, moving close to her and wrapping her in his arms. "Nothing good will come of your seeing Vivian. Whether she's faking or not, she will pay. If she's ruled incompetent, she'll live out her days in a mental hospital rather than a prison cell. Does the location really matter?" He looked into her eyes, imploring her to see things from his perspective.

"Bo, that's what I thought when she tried to kill me before. She managed to beat the system then and get herself out of the hospital. She'll try it again, I know it. I can't take that chance, not now."

Bo took a deep breath and kissed Carly's forehead. "All right, how about this? Let's go home today and spend the weekend relaxing with our family. On Monday, if you feel up to it, we'll go meet with Woods to discuss the state's case against Vivian. I promise you, Carly, I will protect you no matter what. I won't rest until Vivian Alamain is locked up in some form or fashion for the remainder of her miserable life. Now please, Princess, can we go home?"

Carly was on the verge of launching one final counter-argument, but then she looked at Bo and her protest lodged in her throat. He looked worn out, completely exhausted. And she'd been so determined to handle things her way that she nearly missed what all of this was doing to Bo.

He'd been up to his eyeballs for days dealing with the fall-out from Hope's arrest, and Carly knew that he had been purposely shielding her from some of the more sordid details. His afternoons had been spent with her at the hospital, following Anne, Daniel and any nurse who so much as looked at her to get up to the minute details on her condition. Then he'd go home at night to care for Ciara, who Carly knew from her own interactions with the little girl, was growing increasingly more agitated over her mother.

Now, she had thrown one more worry on the pile for Bo to deal with. Leaning her head on his chest, Carly whispered, "I'm sorry."

Bo, not sure what to make of Carly's sudden about-face, asked, "What are you sorry for, Princess?"

"For arguing with you, for being so difficult," Carly answered, tears gathering in her eyes. Bo actually laughed at her explanation and pulled her closer.

"I'm used to it. Besides, it's part of your charm. But does this mean you're willing to go home and do things my way?"

"Absolutely," she said, nodding her head for further emphasis. "Take me home, please."

"Nick, grab your mother's bag," Bo called over his shoulder. He led Carly by the hand out the door and past a somewhat stunned Nick, who found it hard to believe that Bo – hell, that anyone – had won an argument with his mother. Hefting the bag to his shoulder, he followed them down the hallway to the elevators.

"It feels so incredibly good to lie on my own bed," Carly declared, while performing that very action. Although to Bo, it looked more like she was wallowing in it. Still, she was horizontal at the moment, and he wasn't going to argue semantics.

Carly had been very agreeable since they left the hospital. Everyone had gathered in the living room to welcome her home. Carys had prepared every finger food known to man, determined to "feed her up" to make up for the hospital cuisine that Carly had been subjected to over the past few days. Melanie and Nick had hovered and fussed over their mother, planting themselves on either side of her on the sofa, until Carly had laughingly pushed them away, proclaiming that they were smothering her.

Bo had been most surprised by Ciara. In the span of a few days, his daughter seemed to have formed a lasting bond with Carly. Ciara had sidled up to Carly and quietly asked to sit in her lap. Carly immediately drew Ciara to her and Nick had lifted her onto his mother's lap where the little girl settled contently, promptly falling asleep, her face tucked into Carly's neck.

Bo had carried Ciara to her bedroom and laid her gently on the bed. He didn't know how they had managed so quickly, but within hours of learning that Ciara would be staying with him, Carys and Melanie had launched an assault on Pottery Barn Kids and transformed one of the spare bedrooms into a little girl's dream room. Ciara had fallen in love with her new digs the moment she'd stepped through the door.

Bo had returned from Ciara's room to find Carly in a similar state to his daughter's. While not actually asleep, Carly was fading fast. Bo had suggested she retire to their room for a brief nap, fully expecting Carly to rally and insist that she didn't need to rest. He could have been knocked over by a feather when Carly merely nodded and allowed him to escort her up the stairs to their room.

"Aren't you going to rest with me?" Carly's question drew Bo out of his cerebrations and he turned his attention back to the beautiful woman in his bed. Dropping down beside her, he pulled Carly to him, fitting his frame around hers until every inch of their bodies were touching. He allowed himself a moment to just hold her close, breathing in her scent, her presence a balm on his hurting soul. Their bed had been a very lonely place the last few nights without her.

"Bo?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you going to tell me what happened with Hope?" Carly felt him tense around her, then his breath stirred against her neck as he exhaled loudly. All he'd told her the day after Hope's arrest was that Justin had come and bailed her out. Bo had been ridiculously sketchy on any and all details surrounding any dealings with Hope, or with Doug and Julie, who had arrived in town. In fact, Carly only knew that Hope's father and sister were in town because Ciara had mentioned seeing her grandparents the day before when Melanie and Carys had brought Ciara to the hospital to visit her.

"Do we have to talk about it now?"

"Is the story going to improve with age if you put off the telling of it?" That got her a snort of laughter, and Carly rolled over, ever mindful of the stitches in her arm, to face Bo.

Smiling down at her, Bo traced her features with his fingertip. "How do you do it?"

"Do what?" Carly's brow furrowed in confusion.

"You make me feel better. Just being around you, holding you close, makes everything better, Princess. You make me feel invincible." He lowered his lips to hers, taking her mouth in a tender kiss that nonetheless left Carly panting with desire. It had been three days since they had last made love, and Carly wanted to feel Bo inside her. The world could be burning around them, and Carly would want to spend her final moments united in love with Bo.

Rising up, she pushed Bo back until she was hovering over him, their mouths never losing contact. She straddled his hips and tried to pull her tank top over her head, wincing as her injured arm stretched to complete the task. Bo caught her grimace and tried to slow things down, but Carly was having none of it. Working together, they managed to rid one another of their clothing, and Carly moved atop Bo once more in an attempt to join their bodies. Carly found herself staring up at Bo after he suddenly flipped them, effectively reversing their positions.

"I need to taste you." His voice was raw against her flesh, and Carly lay there helpless as his mouth traversed the plains of her body until it reached her most secret place. He used his mouth to drive her to dizzying heights of pleasure, and Carly thrashed about on the bed, whimpering, desperately trying to stay quiet. Bo slid three fingers inside her, and her body went taught as her orgasm crashed over her.

Before she could come down from her euphoric high, Bo replaced his fingers with his cock and Carly flew apart once more. Bo's mouth found hers, swallowing her cries as he quickly found his own release, sheathed tightly within the slick confines of his lover's body.

Breathless, Bo's head dropped to Carly's breast. He didn't think he'd ever be able to move again. Carly's arms encircled him, tracing whimsical patterns across his back, trapping him to her.

"I should move," Bo protested, but Carly only tightened her embrace.

"You should stay right where you are."

"Your arm…"

"Is fine."

"The baby…"

"Is no bigger than my finger and completely unaware of the environment outside of my womb."

"Do you have an answer for everything?" Bo was aiming for stern, but he could hear the exhaustion in his own voice. No doubt Carly could, too. He was tired deep into his bones.

"Not everything," Carly admitted even as she slid out from underneath Bo and lowered his head to the waiting pillow. "But I do know that you need to rest. Sleep, baby, I'm right here. Nothing can hurt us, not now, not in this room. Everything else can wait."

"Don't go," Bo mumbled sleepily. He threw an arm around Carly's waist and pillowed his head once more on her breasts. Carly bestowed a soothing kiss on his brow, then smoothed the spot with her fingertips. The worry lines faded from Bo's face as he relaxed against her, finally asleep. Carly tugged the comforter up over them and soon followed Bo into the Land of Nod, all her concerns about Hope and Vivian falling away as she and Bo held one another. They had each other, and the world could damn well burn.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Carly sat in the rocking chair, her newborn son nursing contentedly at her breast. Sunlight filtered in through the gauzy curtains on the window, and she could just make out the early morning chorus of birds singing to welcome the new day.

The baby in her arms slipped further into slumber, and pulled away from her breast with a quiet pop. Overcome with love for the perfect little bundle, Carly laid a gentle kiss on the downy head and rose slowly from the chair. Leaning into the crib, Carly placed her son on his back, unable to resist resting her hand on him for just a few seconds to feel the reassuring rise and fall of his little chest.

She righted her clothing and slipped out of the nursery. The house lay in stillness around her, all the other occupants still sleeping peacefully. She stepped across the hall to Ciara's room and was mildly surprised to find the little girl's bed empty. Thinking their daughter had sought early morning solace in her parents' bed, Carly made her way back to the bedroom she shared with Bo, only to find it vacant as well.

Kitchen, maybe, Carly thought, but instead of making her way to the kitchen, she felt herself inexplicably drawn to check the rooms of her other children. Nicky and Carys weren't in their room, either. Heartbeat accelerating slightly as panic began to creep its way around her, Carly ran to Melanie and Phillip's room. _Where is everyone_?

Running now, Carly checked every remaining room in the house and found them all mockingly empty. With her heart in her throat, she tore down the hallway once more to the nursery. The door was standing wide open. She distinctly remembered closing it.

Sweating and panting, Carly looked inside and nearly fainted from pure, unadulterated fear. She swayed on her feet and grabbed the doorpost to steady herself. Standing over her baby boy's crib were Lawrence, Vivian and Hope.

Lawrence saw her first, lips curled into an evil sneer. He picked up the baby and held him mockingly close in his arms. Carly's feet moved of their own accord, but before she could reach Lawrence, two arms snaked around her waist. She'd been so focused on Lawrence that Carly hadn't even seen Hope move. Now Hope held her in place in a shockingly strong grip that prevented her reaching her son.

"You're dead!" Carly shouted at Lawrence. "You can't hurt anyone anymore."

Gently jostling her son just as he'd done long ago with her daughter, Lawrence chuckled softly. "You never learn, do you, Katerina? I told you that you would never be free of me. And now I find that you've betrayed me once again, with the gallant Mr. Brady, no less." He spared a glance at the baby, who was awake now and whimpering at the stranger holding him.

"Lawrence, put him down, please! He means nothing to you! He's an innocent child!"

"A child, yes, but innocent? No, I don't think so," Lawrence replied. He turned the baby around so that Carly could see her son's face. "You see, Katerina, this child is the spawn of your union with Bo Brady. He's a daily reminder of not only his mother's betrayal, but that of his father. Poor Hope," he lamented to the woman holding Carly prisoner. "She lost her wayward husband when he formed an adulterous union with you. This child is a product of that perfidy. I just don't believe we can allow him to exist, do you?" Lawrence directed the question to Hope, who solemnly shook her head.

"You're right, Lawrence," Hope answered, her voice coldly callous in Carly's ear. "We got rid of that brat, Melanie, so of course, we have to do away with this little wretch."

Tears fell in abundance from Carly's eyes as she desperately pleaded with Hope for the life of her child. "Hope! Please listen to me! Lawrence is insane; don't allow him to hurt my baby! I don't know what he said to convince you to help him, but you have to save my son! For God's sake, you know what it is to lose a child! You're not heartless! You don't have it in you to harm an innocent baby, I know it."

Without answering, Hope spun Carly around so that they were face to face. Carly groaned in despair when she felt the cold metal of handcuffs encircle her wrist. Hope handily attached the other end to the door; then moved to stand with Lawrence and Vivian.

"Carly, spare me your pleas and excuses," Hope said. "You blew into town and stole my husband right out from under me. But Bo wasn't enough. You had to take my daughter, too."

"No!" Carly insisted. "You gave Ciara to Bo and me. That was your decision!"

"I gave her away because you poisoned my daughter with your venomous lies. You made her love you and hate me, her own mother! Why should you be allowed to live happily ever after with your children and my husband, when all you do is use and take and destroy." Hope looked up to Lawrence and laid her hand lovingly on his arm. A look passed between the two, and Carly tasted bile in her mouth.

"Lawrence was a good man, a loving husband and devoted father. You used him, made him sick. Then you cheated on him, breaking his trust in you. Your infidelity drove him out of his mind, Carly. Then you tried to kill him.

"Fleeing the justice that would have rightly been exacted on you, you showed up in Salem and took my husband, wrecking my family. You turned me into this, Carly. And now all of their blood is on your hands." Hope threw back her head and cackled while Carly thrashed against her restraints in a frenetic attempt to free herself. Hope's last few words penetrated the blind panic surrounding Carly, and she suddenly understood what the deranged woman was telling her.

"You killed them all." It was a statement rather than a question, and the three lunatics in front of her nodded, pleased that Carly had caught on so quickly. "How could you murder your own child?" Carly asked Hope.

"It was quite easy, I assure you," Hope replied. "Ciara was ruined. You damaged her, twisted her love for me. Lawrence explained to me that we'd never be able to rid of her of your influence. Ending her life was something that had to be done. It was merciful, really." Hope's smile was bright and cheerful, as though she'd just shared the most wonderful news with Carly.

"Hope," Carly tried again. "You have to see what Lawrence is doing. He's using you for his own sick games. He made you kill your child! He'll only throw you away once he's finished with you. But you can stop this. You can let me go and give me my baby. We'll leave. You'll never have to see us again, I swear! Just let my son and me go!"

Vivian spoke up then, moving to stand on the other side of Hope. She slid her arm around the other woman's waist in a motherly gesture. "It's no use, Carly. Hope has seen the light. There's no one to come to your aid. They're all dead now, each member of the little family you built around yourself. And as they died, they all knew that it was you who was ultimately responsible for their deaths."

Carly vehemently shook her head. "I don't believe you. Vivian, you'd never harm Nicky or Phillip. You love them too much!" It can't be true! They can't all be gone!

Vivian smiled patiently, as though Carly were a small child to whom Vivian was trying to explain the non-existence of Santa Claus. "They were rotted, too, Carly. All because of you. They couldn't be saved." Vivian looked to the baby who was now screaming blue murder in Lawrence's arms.

"And now you'll watch, my dear, as the life is snuffed out of this little bundle of joy. That way, when you draw your last breath, you'll know that you killed them all."

Carly watched, helpless, as Lawrence's hand clamped down over her baby son's mouth and nose. His cries continued briefly, though they were muffled by Lawrence's hand. Carly could see her baby's eyes, though, and she counted the seconds that ticked by eternally until the light in those beautiful eyes died. Lawrence lay the lifeless little body back down gently in the crib. Then he was by her side, murderous hands running over her body before coming to rest around her throat.

"My darling Katerina," he whispered as his hands squeezed tighter and tighter around her neck. "Even in death you belong to me."

Carly jolted awake, the remains of the nightmare falling away as she took in her surroundings. Long shadows filled the room, and Carly realized without looking at the clock that she and Bo had been out for quite a long time. Bo, judging from the rhythmic snores coming from the body next to her, was still sleeping soundly.

Sitting up, she gingerly touched her arm, the throbbing pain the catalyst for jerking her out of that godforsaken dream. The pain was followed by the protestations of her stomach. Making a bee-line for the bathroom, she gave into the nausea rather than fighting it, and discovered oddly enough that she felt infinitely better once her stomach was empty.

Walking quietly back to the bed so as not to disturb Bo, Carly sought out the time from the clock. It was nearly 6:00 – she and Bo had been asleep the entire afternoon. Listening for a moment, Carly realized that the house was quiet around them.

Leftover tendrils of fear nipped at her heels as the silence reminded her of the nightmare. Her stomach threatened mutiny once more, but she took in Bo's form sprawled out peacefully in their bed, and she took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down.

 _It was a dream, Manning. You just need to chill. The. Fuck. Out. Lawrence is dead. Vivian is sedated in a padded room. Hope is, well, you don't actually know where Hope is at the moment, but she isn't loitering about your house hell-bent on revenge, that's for sure._ Internal monologue having done its job, Carly was still curious as to why the house was so quiet. Slipping on her clothes, she opened the door to find a note taped to the outside.

 _Mom, the Munchkin was getting restless so we're all going for pizza and then the park. Enjoy the quiet and get some rest. Carys says there's a casserole in the fridge for your dinner, and you'd better eat it or she's going to exact some terrible form of Gaelic torture on you. Okay, she didn't actually say that, but try and eat anyway. It will make my life easier. Be back later tonight._

 _Love, Nick (and everyone else)_

Laughing quietly over her son's oddly worded note, Carly tucked the paper in her pocket and went downstairs to the kitchen where she dutifully heated up two plates of the chicken casserole she found in the fridge. Carys had made homemade rolls, too, and Carly snagged a couple along with two bottles of water. Placing everything on a tray to make it easier on her good arm, she headed back to Bo. The heavenly scent of the casserole was making her mouth water.

Bo was awake and pulling on his jeans when she came back into their bedroom. "There you are," he said, hurrying over to relieve her of her burden. "I was about to go look for you."

"I didn't mean to worry you," Carly said, folding her legs under her on the rumpled bed. She told him about getting sick and finding Nick's note. She skipped over the part where she had awakened, choking on her own terror.

"They've all been so great with Ciara," Bo told her. "They dote on her, and the kid is just eating up the attention. The girls are spoiling her rotten, and I'm pretty sure she has Nick and Phillip wrapped around her little finger." Carly smiled at his obvious delight and handed him one of the plates of food.

"This is good," Bo said after a few bites. "Any chance Carys and Nick will want to keep living with us? I'm kind of getting used to her cooking."

"I don't know how long they'll stay, but I don't think you'll starve once it's just us."

Over a pointed look, Bo said, "Princess, you know your way around the operating room, not the kitchen."

"Hey!" she exclaimed, pretending to take offense. "I can follow a recipe, you know." But Bo just sat laughing at her so Carly huffed and resumed eating. They finished their meal amid small exchanges, just enjoying one another's company outside the sterile confines of the hospital. When Bo had scraped off the last remaining crumb from his plate, Carly took the empty dish and sat it next to hers on the dresser.

"Stomach okay?" Bo asked as they reclined against the headboard together.

"Yep, the zofran really seems to be working. I get sick when I first wake up; then I'm fine." Bo nodded and played idly with the strands of Carly's hair. She was quiet for a few seconds, then said, "Tell me."

Bo sighed heavily, but continued toying with her hair. Without preamble, he launched into his tale. "Hope was pretty well sobered up by the time I got to the station. She'd already called Justin to pick her up. She'd been released on her own recognizance. I tried to talk to her, asked her what she was thinking, but she refused to speak to me.

"Then I brought up Ciara. I asked Hope what I was supposed to tell our daughter about her mother getting arrested for drunk driving. She looked me dead in the eye and said she didn't care. She said I could tell Ciara whatever I liked because as far as she was concerned, Ciara was my 'problem' now.

"Can you believe that she actually referred to her own child as a 'problem'? Hope told me she was tired of Ciara whining all the time and that since you and I were already having a kid of our own, we could just have Ciara, too."

Carly had a hard time believing that Hope would have said those things about Ciara if she were sober and said so. "Are you sure it was only alcohol in her system?"

"We'll have the full blood tests results back on Monday. Her BAC was .3."

Carly's eyes widened. "Jesus! I'm surprised she didn't get alcohol poisoning."

"The thing is, barely an hour passed from the time Matthews called me until I got to the station. When Matthews called, he said Hope had passed out in the back of the cruiser and was dead to the world when they tossed her in the cell. He called me not thirty minutes after she blacked out.

"But when I saw her, I'd never have guessed she'd even had a drink. Her eyes were clear and focused."

"So what, are we thinking Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? Or maybe Hope has decided that she doesn't want to be tied down with a kid? Some women do give over sole custody of their children to their exes, you know."

Bo thought for a moment, and Carly could almost see the wheels turning in his mind. "I don't know, Princess. Anything is possible, I suppose, but I really don't see Hope just handing over Ciara like that. It's one thing to share custody with me, but to give up her rights completely? I don't know," he repeated.

"Okay, maternal instincts aside for the moment, how has Hope behaved since that night?" Carly was desperately trying to understand why Hope seemed to have lost her mind, and more importantly, what the sudden neurosis meant for her and Bo.

"That's just it. Hope hasn't once called to check on Ciara. Doug and Julie have been staying at the house with Hope, and even though they admit that Hope is acting oddly, they have no viable explanation. Neither of them has seen her take a drink. There's no liquor of any kind in the house, at least not that they could find.

"Julie and Doug took Ciara for a little while yesterday and brought her to see Hope. Julie said that Hope talked to Ciara, asked her about how she liked living with us and played with her for a few minutes. Then she went upstairs to lie down. She didn't even say goodbye to Ciara."

Carly's heart clenched at the pain the encounter must have caused the little girl. "How did Ciara react?" she asked, almost afraid to hear Bo's answer.

"She started crying for me so Doug and Julie brought her back. I was still at the hospital with you, but Nick and the girls were here, and they were able to calm her down. Ciara was so excited when I told her that you were coming home today."

"I was glad to see her, too," Carly replied truthfully. "But, Bo, we're going to have to get to the bottom of this. If Hope doesn't want to be part of Ciara's life any longer, that's fine. We'll take her and love her and raise her and make sure that she has everything she'll ever need."

"You really mean that, don't you?" Bo said, and if it were possible he fell just a little bit deeper in love with Carly. "You'd really take someone else's child and raise her like your own."

Carly lovingly stroked his face. "Bo, this isn't just someone else's child. Ciara is your child. I love her because she's a part of you." As Carly spoke the words, she realized with some surprise that they were completely true. Over the span of a few days, she had opened her heart to Bo's little girl and couldn't imagine her life without Ciara in it.

Tears welled up in Bo's eyes at Carly's declaration, and he took her face in his hands. "I love you." His voice was husky with emotion as he covered her mouth in a tender kiss.

"I love you, too," Carly replied when he pulled away. "But we're going to have to figure out things with Hope."

"I know. If you're up to it, I thought I might see if Doug and Julie will meet with us. They're spending the most time with Hope, and they know her better than anyone. I'd like to get their perspective. What do you think?"

Carly's stomach roiled a bit at the prospect of facing down Hope's father and sister. _What exactly was the protocol for visiting with the parents of one's lover's ex-wife-in-the-making_? Warning her stomach against rejecting its most recent acquisitions, Carly mentally squared her shoulders and took Bo's hands.

"What ever we have to do to ensure that Ciara is taken care of, we'll do. She has to be our priority right now. I'll be right there with you every step of the way."

Eyes alight with love Bo smiled at Carly and slid his hand over her lower belly. "I know that things are crazy right now, but I'm just so happy with the life we're building."

"Me, too, more than I can say. But there are so many obstacles in front of us."

"Doesn't matter," Bo assured her, shaking his head. "We'll get through it. I'm going to set up a meeting with Doug and Julie for tomorrow morning. Then on Monday we'll meet with the D.A. about Vivian and start working on putting her away for good this time."

Bo leaned in and kissed Carly, quick and hard, and while she was somewhat distracted, he reached under his pillow and pulled out a small black jeweler's box. He presented the box to her with a flourish, and she took it, opening it up to reveal a simple yet beautiful three-stone engagement ring.

"Bo!" came her breathless exclamation. "It's beautiful! But you didn't have to…" Bo cut off her protests by laying his finger to her lips.

"I know I didn't have to. I wanted to. Princess, as soon as my divorce from Hope is final I plan on dragging you in front of the first Justice of the Peace, Priest, Rabbi or Ship's Captain I can find. I want you to wear my ring so that everyone knows how I feel about you." Taking the ring from its satin nest, Bo slipped it onto Carly's left ring finger. Once the ring was settled in place, Bo kissed it.

"I can't wait to be your husband." Bo suddenly found himself with a lap full of Carly, who launched herself into his arms.

"And I can't wait to be your wife," she whispered against his mouth. Their lips met in a sensual dance as their passions rose and battled for dominance. Bo was in the process of lowering Carly to the bed when they were interrupted by a loud knock on their bedroom door - their bedroom that was standing halfway open, where Melanie waited with her hand over her eyes, laughing.

Bo and Carly flew apart to opposite sides of the bed. Carly, embarrassment staining her cheeks, looked at her daughter, who was still laughing. "Sweetheart!" she exclaimed, a little too brightly. "You're back."

"Yes, we are," Melanie replied in the same cheerful tone. She tugged on something behind her, and Ciara slid into view.

"Hey, Little One," Bo greeted his daughter, who tore into the room and jumped on the bed, neatly situating herself between Bo and Carly.

"She couldn't wait to see you two," Melanie explained.

"It's all right, Mel," Carly assured her daughter. Nodding, Melanie backed out of the doorway and disappeared from view.

"Did you have fun at the park?" Bo asked.

"Yes, Daddy, but I missed you," Ciara said, slightly pouting. Carly tenderly brushed a lock of hair from the little girl's forehead. She willfully forced down the images from her dream, reminding herself that her family was whole and happy.

"We missed you, too, Muchkin," Carly said, trying to cover the fear that was coiling tightly in the back of her throat. There must have been something in her voice because Bo studied her carefully, concern evident on his face. Carly gave him a full smile that seemed to pacify him, and together they turned their attention back to Ciara.

"I thought you were going to sleep forever, and I wanted to wake you up, but Uncle Phillip said I should let you sleep, and then he asked me if I wanted to go to the park and I said yes and then Carys asked me if I was hungry and I said yes and then everyone told me I could have whatever I wanted for dinner and I said I wanted pizza so we all went for pizza and then we all went to play at the park. It was lots of fun, but next time I want you and Mommy to come, Daddy."

Ciara delivered her summary with nary a breath, but when she said "mommy," both Bo and Carly looked at one another…and gulped. "Um, listen Little One," Bo began hesitantly. "I'm not sure if Mommy will want to go with us to the park." Or anywhere, actually, he added silently. Ciara turned her big, doe eyes to Carly and looked at her imploringly.

"You want to come to the park with us, don't you, Mommy?"

Carly did her best to prevent her own eyes from popping out of their sockets. She looked at Bo, who appeared as shell-shocked as she was.

"Ciara," Bo said, gently garnering his daughter's attention. Oh, shit, how am I gonna handle this? "Carly loves you very much, but she isn't your mommy. When she and I get married, she'll be your step-mother. But your mommy will still love you, too, and want to spend time with you."

Ciara's little eyebrows crinkled in confusion as she looked from her daddy to her mommy and back again. "I don't understand," she admitted at last. "I thought Carly was my mommy now."

"Why would you think that, Ciara?" Bo asked.

"Because yesterday when I saw Mommy Hope she told me that she wasn't my mommy anymore. She said that I was going to live with you and Carly now and that Carly was my new mommy." Ciara, on the verge of tears, gazed imploringly at Carly. "Don't you want me?"

Carly gathered Ciara in her arms and rocked her back and forth. "Of course, I want you, Ciara," she said without hesitation. _Damn Hope, what the hell have you done to your kid_? Ciara sniffled a few times, but finally lifted her head to look at Carly.

"So I can call you 'Mommy' now?" she asked, needing reassurance. Carly met Bo's eyes over Ciara's head and at his tense nod, she responded, "Sure you can, honey."

"Yay!" the little girl exclaimed. She wrapped her skinny arms around her mommy's neck and squeezed as tightly as she could. Ciara pulled away and began talking excitedly, unaware of the turmoil the two adults with her were experiencing.

"Now that you're my mommy, that means that Nick and Melanie are my brother and sister! And when Nick and Carys get married, she'll be my sister, too. And we can all live here together and then my baby brother or sister will be born and I can't wait to be a big sister!" Noticing the silence around her, Ciara looked at her mommy and daddy, trying to figure out why they weren't sharing in her excitement.

"Mommy, Daddy, why are you so sad?"

"We're not sad!"

"Everything's fine!"

Bo and Carly rushed to assure Ciara at the same time, the responses jumbling over each other. Rather than alarm the little girl, it made her giggle, and Bo and Carly breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"Tell you what, Little One," Bo started with a quick glance at Carly. "Why don't you and Mommy go downstairs and talk everyone into a movie night. I need to make a quick phone call, and then I'll join you."

Carly caught on quick and eased off the bed, taking Ciara by the hand. "I think that sounds like a terrific idea. Come on, Munchkin. Let's get you into your jammies first. Then you can pick the movie, and I'll get Carys to make us some snacks." Ciara, happy to be doing something with her mommy and daddy, allowed Carly to lead her out the room. Carly threw a glance over her shoulder at Bo and gave him a sympathetic smile. She had a rough idea of what he was about to do and didn't envy him the task.

Downstairs, Carly and Ciara found Carys and Melanie in the kitchen and Nick and Phillip lounging in front of the very large plasma television the boys had insisted on purchasing. The thing was roughly the size of a theatre screen to Carly, and she had half-way expected the movers to drop it when it was installed. To Bo, Nick and Phillip, however, the television was a thing of beauty.

Carly sent Ciara into the living room to inform the boys of Movie Night while she ventured into the kitchen to help the girls gather snacks and drinks for everyone. Carys quickly microwaved a couple of bags of popcorn, and Melanie laid out chocolate chip cookies on a platter. Carly tried to make herself useful by taking an armful of sodas and a bottle of water for herself from the fridge and carried them into the living room, but she was quickly overruled by Melanie, who was worried about the way the stitches looked.

"Seriously, Mom," Melanie said as she examined her mother's arm. "I'm worried the stitches are infected."

"Melanie, they're not infected," Carly argued. "The stitches dissolve, you know that. Sometimes they look a little wonky when the process first starts. Besides, your father has me on enough antibiotics to fell a horse."

Melanie, however, would not be deterred. "Just humor me, would you, and go sit down?" Rolling her eyes at her daughter, Carly turned and walked to the living room. "Just remember, Mom, I'm only fussing over you because I love you and I'd really like for you to not pass out from blood loss because you ripped open your stitches!"

Ciara went to the growing stack of movies that the group had acquired over the past few weeks and plucked _The Princess Bride_ from the stack. She presented her choice to Nick, who eyed the DVD dubiously.

"Munchkin, haven't you seen this movie enough?" Nick asked. Phillip only rolled his eyes, knowing Ciara would get her way. Every member of the household could quote the film after the seemingly continuous loop in which it had been played.

"But it's my favorite, Nicky," Ciara said, adopting a slight pout.

Outwardly grumbling to make Ciara laugh, which she did, Nick put in Ciara's movie choice just as Carys and Melanie entered the room with the snacks. Melanie and Carys dropped onto the sofa beside their respective halves. Carly and Ciara took the overstuffed chair and ottoman for themselves. Bo would just be able to squeeze in with them once he joined the party.

Carys opened a Sierra Mist for Ciara and handed it to the little girl. Carly, simultaneously hungry and nauseated, snagged a bowl of popcorn. After a couple of bites, her nausea quieted down. Nick started the movie and before the opening credits finished, Bo came downstairs and settled in the big chair with his two favorite girls.

Buttercup and Wesley had just ventured forth into the Fire Swamp when Carly looked at Ciara and noticed the little girl was sound asleep. Bo, catching Carly's movement, stood quietly and lifted the sleeping child effortlessly in his arms. Carly rose without comment and together they went to Ciara's room to tuck her in.

Carly turned back the covers and switched on the nightlight while Bo laid Ciara on her bed. He kissed his daughter's forehead and moved out of the way so Carly could properly cover her up. She pulled the blankets up to Ciara's shoulders and kissed her cheek.

"G'nite, Mommy and Daddy," Ciara mumbled before slipping back into slumber. Bo took Carly's hand, and they stepped out into the hallway, leaving Ciara's door open a bit, just the way she liked it. They went back downstairs where Nick, surmising that Ciara was down for the count, had already turned off her movie and was flipping through channels to find something more to his liking. Carys and Melanie were talking over Nick's head, who was likewise conferring with Phillip over Melanie's head to find something to watch. The foursome's conversations were abruptly halted when the light in the living room was switched on.

"Uh oh," Melanie said as she took in the grim faces of her mother and Bo.

"What is it, bro?" Phillip asked Bo.

"I, well, we," Bo said and gestured to Carly and himself. "Need to talk to you all."

"What's happened?" Nick asked warily. Bo and Carly resumed their seats, their joined hands not quite covering up the diamond ring on Carly's finger. Melanie was the first to note the new addition to her mother's jewelry collection and squealed, causing the other people in the room to nearly jump out of their skins. Melanie was at her mother's side in an instant, taking her hand and admiring the ring. Carys wasn't to be left out and took turns with Melanie declaring the clarity of the stones and perfection of the cut.

Projecting his voice over the din of the three women, Nick addressed his soon-to-be step-father. "So I take it she said 'yes'."

"Well, it took a little convincing," Bo said with a grin.

Catching the exchange between Bo and Nick, Carly leveled a gaze at her son. "You knew about this?"

Nick shrugged. "He asked me about it on the way to the hospital this morning. I told him since he'd already knocked you up, the least he could do was marry you."

Lightning flashed in his mother's eyes and Nick had the good sense to back track. "Kidding, Mom! Jeez! Lighten up, will you?"

Shaking her head, Carly replied, "You are such a smart-ass."

Nick grinned then as if to illustrate the apple didn't fall very far from the tree. The girls were still gushing over the ring, and Bo sensed that he was losing momentum. What he had to say affected them all, indirectly at least, and he wanted to get it over with and take Carly to bed.

"If I could have your attention for just a few minutes, please?" Bo directed to the room at large. The girls' chatter ceased immediately and they turned their attention to Bo.

"First of all, I want to thank you all. We couldn't have made it through these last few days without you, and I just, well, thanks." Bo cleared his throat and stole a glance at Carly. Just the sight of her by his side filled him with confidence. "You've all been terrific with Ciara, and thanks especially for this afternoon. Carly and I really needed some rest."

"Hey, we'd do anything for you and Mom," Melanie spoke for the others. "And the Munchkin, too. You don't have to thank us."

"Still, thank you," Bo reiterated. "Now, I need to let you all know what has developed with Hope. I talked to Julie a little while ago. Carly and I are going to meet with her and Doug in the morning, but Hope has left town."

"What?" Carly exclaimed. Bo had not made her privy to the details of his conversation with Julie. She was as shocked as the others.

"Apparently Hope had Justin draw up custody papers yesterday afternoon and she signed them last night." Bo looked fully at Carly. "She's given Ciara to both of us. She relinquished her paternal rights."

Carly blinked, not quite fully processing the information Bo had provided. "What?" she repeated. Judging from the silence around her, no one else had anything more intelligent to offer.

"I don't know all the details. Julie sounded pretty beside herself, but the gist of it is that Ciara is in my sole custody. I only have to sign the paperwork and let it be processed through the court, and she left a written request asking that you legally adopt Ciara, Princess."

"But," Phillip started, only to fall silent as he, too, was finding Bo's news hard to take in. Swallowing, he tried again. "Hope gave up Ciara. Just like that."

His brother nodded. "Pretty much, yeah. She packed a suitcase this morning and told Doug and Julie what she'd done."

"Well, didn't they try and – I don't know – stop her?" Melanie questioned. No matter her opinion of Hope, which had dropped dramatically after learning of the other woman's recent behavior, Melanie still found it hard to believe that Hope would just give away her daughter.

"Julie didn't give me a lot of details. I suspect she's saving them for tomorrow. All I know is what I've told you, and what Ciara told Carly and me earlier tonight." He quickly enlightened the others of Ciara's assertion that Carly was now her mommy.

Nick shook his head in disbelief. "She said something at the park about that, while I was pushing her on the swings. She said that we had the same mommy now. I didn't argue with her. I figured she'd been through so much, you know, and that it would work itself out. But Hope actually told that cute little girl that she wasn't her mother anymore?" Nick's disgust over Hope's actions was apparent in his voice. "Well, it's for the best, then, that Hope leaves. Isn't it? Ciara will be better off with us anyway."

Carys readily agreed with Nick. "Of course, she is, Nicky. We'll do anything we can to help both you and Ciara," the redhead vowed. "You only have to ask."

"Us, too," Melanie said, offering up hers and Phillip's assistance. "If you need help getting her to and from school or the dentist or the doctor or if we need to read bedtime stories or…"

"I think they get it, honey," Phillip said, gently interrupting Melanie's ramble before it could get started. "I think what we're all trying to say is that we're behind you guys, a hundred percent."

"Thanks, little brother," Bo said gruffly. Carly teared up – she couldn't help it really. _Damn hormones_! But she was deeply touched by the gesture of support from their family.

Barely six months ago she had been living in hell, cut off from friends and family, isolated from her children and tortured by a monster. Now she sat in her own home, Bo's ring on her finger and his child in her womb, surrounded by their other children. If it were possible to burst from happiness, then Carly feared she might be in danger of doing so. Trying to disguise the fact that she was crying, she leaned her head on Bo's shoulder and stroked her daughter's halo of golden hair. She felt Bo's kiss on her own head, and Carly was lost then and openly weeping.

Instantly worried, Bo took her in his arms, trying to determine what had her so upset. Rushing to calm his fears, Carly muttered, "Happy, happy" over and over again until Bo finally surmised that she was crying tears of joy.

"It's the stupid hormones," Carly mumbled, taking the tissue that Carys offered her. "I cry at the drop of a hat, and you all are just so wonderful and I'm so grateful to be here with you and…" her voice trailed off as the tears started up again. Deciding to just let Carly cry it out, Bo held her until she got her emotions under control.

"Sorry, but I'm afraid I'm going to be bursting into tears a lot over the next several months. Pregnancy really brings on the waterworks."

"We'll buy stock in Kleenex," Phillip said, making everyone laugh.

The mood lightened considerably, Bo asked the two young couples to watch Ciara for Carly and him in the morning so that they could meet with Doug and Julie.

"I have no idea how long it will take, and I don't want Ciara to know where we've gone until we get back home. I also don't want her to know that Hope has left town."

"Don't sweat it," Phillip said. "We'll babysit the Munchkin and keep her occupied."

"And we certainly won't say anything about the shrew," Melanie added, then balked when the others looked crossly at her. "What? 'Shrew' was the nicest name I could think of for her. Would you like me to list the others that crossed my mind?"

"No," Carly said hurriedly. "That's another thing. I don't want Ciara to ever hear a bad word about from Hope from any of us."

"But, Mom," Nick protested. "Hope just ditched Ciara. Why should we care what Ciara thinks about her?"

"Nicholas!" Carly spoke sharply. "The matter is closed. Ciara will not hear one cross word about Hope from any one in this house. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes ma'am," Nick answered instantly. When his mother used that tone, there was no point in arguing. The others nodded their agreement, not wanting Carly to single them out.

Bo was so thankful to Carly for her desire to protect Ciara's feelings at all costs. No matter what tomorrow would bring, he and Carly could face down anything, of that he was sure. He was also certain that it was getting late and Carly needed to take her medicine and go to bed.

"Look," Bo said, winding up the family discussion. "It may not be late for you four, but I'm exhausted. Carly and I are supposed to meet Doug and Julie at the Pub at 8:00 tomorrow. We'll be back as soon as we can, and we'll fill you in on the details later." Bo turned to Carly. "You need to take your medicine and get some rest." He stood and extended his hand to her, which she took and allowed him to pull her to her feet.

"Goodnight, Mom." Melanie hugged her mother and kissed her cheek. Nick did the same. Then Bo and Carly bid the others goodnight and headed up the stairs.

Once in their room, Bo handed Carly her Tylenol and Zofran, which she washed down with a glass of water from the bathroom. Carly showered, not fully realizing how worn out she was until she tried to get out and had to call for Bo to come and dry her off. She physically couldn't go another step.

After drying her off, Bo helped Carly slip on her pajamas; then he put her to bed, much as they had done with Ciara. He gave her a brief kiss and rose from the bedside.

"I'm gonna grab a quick shower, Princess. I'll be right back." Carly nodded sleepily and rolled to her side, drawing the covers up around her. She dimly heard the shower start and tried to relax her mind for sleep. Her body was exhausted; her brain, decidedly less so. The running water stopped, and a few moments later, Carly felt the bed dip as Bo slid in next to her.

He molded his shape to hers and kissed the skin of her shoulder left bare from her tank top. "I love you, Princess."

"Love you, too, baby." Carly closed her eyes and was nearly asleep when, unbidden, images from her earlier nightmare floated in her subconscious. Snuggling closer to Bo, allowing his scent and the feel of his body to comfort her, Carly willed away the haunting recollections of her nightmare. _Lawrence is dead,_ she reminded herself. _It was only a dream._


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

The four people seated around the table in the back corner of the Brady Pub on Sunday morning could hardly be described as a group happy to see one another. Fortunately they were the Pub's only occupants at such an early hour, save for Arianna, who had taken their drink orders when they had arrived. Picking up on the tension in the air, Arianna had quickly delivered three coffees and one ice water to the table. She had then skedaddled behind the bar, wondering to herself if it was too early in the morning for a drink. Bo and Carly sitting opposite Doug and Julie made Arianna want to occupy space that was anywhere other than her current location. Awkward didn't even begin to cover it.

Had Arianna been able to read Carly's mind, she would have discovered she was not alone in her desire to be elsewhere. Carly could bring to bear any number of other activities she would have preferred over her present situation, including, but not limited to, root canals with no anesthetic. As it was, she sipped her ice water and clutched Bo's hand under the table in a death grip. She had forced herself to eat a piece of toast before they left home, and now she swore that every crumb of bread was lodged in her throat and threatening reappearance at any moment. The death glare she was receiving from Doug Williams was not helping relations with her stomach, either.

The man had been staring at her as if she were the Whore of Babylon since she and Bo had arrived. In between bouts of glaring, he insisted on laying blame to Carly and Bo for every wrong ever perpetrated against his precious daughter, and Carly had heard just about enough of his "Poor Little Hope" routine.

Bo, sensing that Carly's temper was about to be unleashed, pried his hand loose from the vice-like hold Carly had on it and laid his hand on her thigh. He squeezed just hard enough to get her attention, and when she turned her gaze to him, Bo spoke at last, interrupting Doug's tirade.

"Doug, that's enough," Bo said in a tone that left no room for argument. "Carly and I asked you to meet with us to discuss Ciara, nothing more. Hope and I are done. I'm sorry if she got hurt, Doug, I really am. But our marriage was over long before Carly came back into my life. Hope and I had our problems. Some we worked through, but others, well, we just couldn't. Or didn't. It really doesn't matter now. But I will not sit here and listen to you bad-mouth Carly. Can we discuss this like adults, or should I just take the papers Hope left for me and tell Ciara that she can't see her grandparents any more?"

Incensed, Doug shouted, "You'd never keep my granddaughter from me!"

"I will," Bo vowed. "I have to make certain that Ciara has a healthy environment to grow up in, and that means surrounding her with people who love her and won't try and undermine the foundation of the home and family that Carly and I are building."

"If you think for a minute that I'm going to sit back and let this two-bit floozy raise my granddaughter, you've got another thing coming! I'll sue you for custody of Ciara! I'll take her if I have to. It's bad enough that you've thrown away my daughter's love for a piece of trash, but I'll be damned if I'll let you drag that little girl down with you."

Doug's face had gone beet red. His breathing was shallow and erratic from his fury. Medically speaking, Carly wondered briefly about the state of the man's blood pressure. As a doctor, she'd taken an oath to help her fellow man; as a woman thoroughly pissed off at the insults which had been lobbed at her, she momentarily considered letting Doug Williams fall face-first into his forgotten cup of coffee, the victim of a well-timed stroke. They weren't that far from the hospital. Theoretically, EMS should be able to reach the Pub in plenty of time.

Then she stole a glimpse at the woman seated next to Doug. Julie Williams was, by nature, not a reticent individual. She normally radiated life. Long ago, Julie had welcomed Carly into her family with open arms, and Carly had felt privileged to call Julie "friend." In fact, Julie, along with her grandmother, Alice, had each played a significant part in Carly's first relationship with Bo.

Now, though, Julie looked…lost. That was it. Hope had fled to parts unknown, given away her child and from the anguish painting Julie's features, Hope's most recent escapades had left her older sister bereft. For the affection she once bore Julie Williams, Carly swallowed her anger and laid her hand on Bo's arm, staying her fiancée's ire.

"Bo, please," Carly's quiet request took Bo by surprise, causing him to falter mid-rant. "Let's not fight with Doug and Julie. They love Ciara, too, and I believe they only want what's best for her."

Gruffly, Doug interjected, "That's the smartest thing I've heard come out of your mouth, young lady. And the best thing for Ciara is to be with us, if she can't be with her mother."

"Her mother," Bo replied through gritted teeth. "Took off and left her behind."

"She left because you broke her heart!" Doug was back to shouting, and Carly leaned back in her chair, mentally throwing her hands in the air. This back-and-forth blame game was getting them nowhere. At the rate they were going, Ciara would be ready for college before they could extricate themselves from this god-awful conversation.

"Doug, sweetheart, don't." Julie's voice sounded over Doug's wrath, and he turned to look at his wife as though she'd sprouted a second head. Having gained his attention, Julie bravely forged ahead. "Hope is a big girl. She made her choice, as did Bo. Hope didn't have to leave town, and she certainly didn't have to give over her rights to Ciara. But she did, and her reasons for her behavior are her own. Justin helped her. He told us he spoke with Hope at length, and he felt she understood the ramifications of her actions. Do you trust Justin's opinion?"

"I don't know," Doug moaned. "I don't know what to think anymore. I only know that my little girl is gone, and these two," he jabbed a finger in Bo and Carly's direction. "Are to blame!"

Julie's head slowly shook, indicating that Doug was incorrect in his assessment. "Honey, you know I love Hope with all my heart, and I'd do anything to help her. But something has been wrong with her, to one degree or another, for a very long time. You and I have only enabled her behavior. We stood by and watched her blame Bo for Zach's death. We glossed over her affair with Patrick. We didn't stop her berating Bo for Ciara's kidnapping, even though it was Bo who, by the grace of God, was able to ultimately rescue Ciara. Hope made the decision to take Ciara from Bo and run away to us without telling Bo what she was doing. We knew that, we knew it was wrong to put Bo through that kind of emotional turmoil, but we did nothing. Then Hope chose to move with Ciara into Victor's, even though she knew how Bo felt about it. Hope told me herself that Bo begged her to give them another chance. He tried to explain to her that it wasn't safe for her to come home because of the…situation with Carly, but Hope didn't believe him."

"And she was right not to," Doug insisted. "Bo just wanted to play house with this one," he jerked a thumb in Carly's direction. "And string my daughter along for the ride."

Again, Julie sadly shook her head. "No, sweetheart. Bo did what he always does. He protects those who need help. Not that I'm entirely pleased with you two," Julie informed Bo and Carly. "But I do believe that you did not come here to destroy Bo's marriage, Carly."

Julie's statement was a double-edged sword, and unsure of how to respond, Carly merely nodded. Turning back to her husband, Julie hoped that he would listen to her.

"Bo and Hope were the only two in their marriage, and ultimately, they were the two who ended it. The fall-out may be nuclear, darling, but you cannot blame Carly for all of Bo and Hope's marital problems."

Doug took his wife's hands. "But, Julie. Why would Hope leave Ciara? Can you explain that to me, please, because I can't think of one good reason why my daughter would do something as thoughtless and hurtful as give up her rights to her child? She didn't just leave town, for heaven's sake; she actually signed away her legal rights as a parent! That is not my daughter!"

Julie closed her eyes fleetingly, praying for guidance. Doug had always been blind to Hope's more questionable behavior. Hope's teen antics had nearly destroyed Doug and Julie's happiness, and Julie had been ring-side for the majority of fits that Hope had pitched throughout her life in order to get whatever shiny object had caught her attention. Though she loved her baby sister beyond reason, Julie was a practical woman. And Hope, though at turns generous and loving, still harbored the spoiled-brat mentality that had driven her as a teenager. As her sibling, Julie could see this. As Hope's father, Doug could not and most likely never would.

"Darling, I can't begin to guess what is going on inside Hope's head at the moment. But I don't believe that Justin, as an officer of the court and more importantly as some one who cares for Hope very deeply, would file paperwork on her behalf if he thought for even a moment that Hope was not operating of her own free will. Perhaps Hope realized that she couldn't help Ciara until she worked through things on her own. Maybe she decided to go find herself. Maybe she's having some sort of mid-life crisis.

What ever Hope's reasons, we will just have to wait for her to disclose them to us. We have no way of knowing where she went so we can't follow her, and even if we did know her destination, I'm not certain that tracking her down would be the best course of action."

"Why not? I'm her father. It's my job to make her see sense. She's made a terrible mistake, and it's up to me to correct it for her."

"Oh, sweetheart," Julie said, not without sympathy. "I think it's time that you let Hope stand on her own. She's a grown woman, and if she's made a mistake, then she'll have to be the one to right it. You can't fight this battle for her."

Doug flagged under his wife's declarations, and Carly felt the first stirrings of compassion for the man who so blatantly disliked her. No one understood better than she the desire to protect one's child, even from themselves. Doug suddenly seemed older than he was as he pondered, for what was likely the first time, the idea that his daughter's actions couldn't be rectified by his own iron will. He met Julie's eyes; then looked hard at Carly before his gaze came at last to rest upon Bo.

"Will you let us see Ciara?"

Bo paused for a moment before nodding once. "But only if you promise to lay off Carly and me. I mean it, Doug. I get that Hope is your daughter, but Ciara is mine. She's already calling Carly 'mommy.' And Carly is who she's turned to for comfort the past few days. You saw that yourself when you took her to Hope's. I know that you and Julie love Ciara, and she adores both of you. No matter how adaptable she is, at some point Ciara will have to come to terms with the fact that Hope left her. Carly and I and the rest of our family will do everything within our power to help her. Can we count on the two of you?"

Carly's heart thrilled as it did every time that Bo referred to their hodge-podge of children as ours. _Dear God, how I love this man!_ Breaking away from her personal celebration, Carly swung her piercing eyes to Doug and Julie, who were engaged in their own bout of non-verbal communication that only couples who truly know one another are capable of. Seeming to have come to an agreement, Doug met Bo's even gaze.

"We'll do what we can for Ciara," he replied quietly. Having thus spoken, he motioned to Julie, who retrieved a legal-sized envelope from her shoulder bag. She slid it across the table to Bo and Carly.

"This is what Hope left. The first is the paperwork she had Justin draw up relinquishing her rights as Ciara's birth mother." Julie paused to draw a breath, finding the words harder to say than she anticipated. Saying them aloud made the situation real. Bo held up the letter-sized envelope that had been included in the larger one.

"What's this?" he asked. There was nothing written on the envelope to indicate its intended recipient.

"That's for Carly," Julie answered. "Hope said to give it directly to you." She plucked the envelope from Bo's hand and passed it to Carly. Carly took it, examining it carefully, trying to fathom what on earth Hope could have wanted to tell her personally and found she was unable to come up with any pleasant explanations.

Feeling the eyes of the table's other occupants on her, Carly felt compelled to open the envelope. She did so carefully, though, on the off-chance that Hope had decided to do her in with Anthrax. Then figuring that if Hope really wished her dead, the other woman would hardly want witnesses to the crime, Carly tore at the remaining seal and pulled out a solitary sheet of paper, folded in three parts.

 _Carly,_

 _I'm sure you're wondering why I chose to write to you. The truth is I'm wondering why myself. Ciara belongs to Bo now in the eyes of the law, and as far as I'm concerned, you're her mother. Adopt her if you like – I don't actually care, but the choice is yours. Perhaps you're thinking I'm out of my mind. I'm not. I'm thinking clearly for the first time in my life, and I know what I have to do. Enjoy your life. You win._

 _Hope_

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Bo asked, echoing Carly's thoughts perfectly. For her part, Carly could only shake her head, skimming back over the short note again and again, but finding nothing of which she could make any sense.

"Obviously my daughter is out of her mind, but she's gone off the grid and given you two a free pass to do whatever the hell you like. And we can't even contest it because Hope left!" Doug's earlier truce had been broken by the contents of Hope's note to Carly. He was positively seething that the woman across the table from him had stolen his daughter's husband and was now poised to take over his granddaughter, as well.

"Now, Doug," Julie began, but Doug rounded on her.

"No! No more excuses, Julie! How can you sit there after listening to the nonsense Hope wrote and still claim that she was acting of her own free will? Am I the only one who understands that Hope has suffered a complete and total break with reality? I don't give a damn what those papers say! I'm going to find some way to fight them. I won't rest until I've taken Ciara from the both of you. There is no way in hell that I'll let you have any part in raising my granddaughter!"

In his absolute rage, Doug did something that he never would have done otherwise. He lunged across the table and grabbed Carly's left arm, shaking her, causing nauseating pain to track along her injured limb. Julie and Bo, mutually astounded at Doug's actions, reacted at the same time with Julie pulling on Doug to restrain him and Bo snagging Carly around the waist to remove her from Doug's reach.

Doug, shocked over his own behavior, sank back down into his chair, fully intent on begging both Carly and Bo's forgiveness. He never got the chance. Carly shot out of Bo's arms with the speed of a striking cobra, stopping within centimeters of Doug's face.

"I spent years allowing a man to abuse me, to take his anger and rage out on my body. Touch me again, and it will be the last thing you ever do. Do I need to repeat myself?"

Doug shook his head, unable to speak under the disarming glare of the woman in front of him. Carly slowly lowered herself back to her own seat and continued to stare at Doug, who in all honesty looked positively sick over having shaken Carly. That brought Carly some comfort, but it did little to quell the raging storm inside her that his actions had stirred up. She'd been the victim for so long, but when she had stabbed Lawrence in the gut, ending the cycle of abuse and terror, she had vowed to herself, _Never again. Never again will a man lay hands on me without my express permission._

Having succeeded in ratcheting up the tension at the table by several thousand levels, Carly suddenly felt nausea creeping up on her and realized that her arm was throbbing like mad where Doug had grabbed her. She touched it unconsciously, but Bo picked up on the action and slid his arm protectively across her shoulders. One-handed, he gathered the custody papers and the note Hope had left and stood up, pulling Carly with him.

"I think it would be best for everyone if we go our separate ways for now, before anything else is said or done that can't be reconciled," Bo said.

"You're right," Julie readily agreed. Doug was still staring at his hands in a state of disbelief. He'd never touched a woman in anger before in his life. "Please, give Ciara our love and tell her we'll call her."

"Of course," Carly said, speaking for the first time since her outburst. She felt that for Ciara's sake she should apologize for threatening her grandfather. "Doug, I apologize. I shouldn't have…reacted like I did."

"No, Carly, it's I who owe you an apology. Please forgive me. I let my anger get the better of me, and I hurt you. For that I am deeply sorry."

"Julie, you have my numbers," Bo said. "You're welcome to call Ciara any time, and after things settle down a little, we'll set up a time when she can visit with you."

"Thank you, darling," Julie answered. "We'll be in touch." Bo and Carly walked out of the Pub where Carly immediately threw up in the nearest trash can.

"Stress," she said when she had finished. "Definitely makes the nausea worse."

"Well, then, we'll just have to make sure you stay out of stressful situations," Bo said and pulled her to him for a comforting hug.

Carly went, laughing, and said, "Right, because God knows there's no stress in Salem." They stood for a moment, secure in one another's love; then turned and walked in the direction of their car, heedless of the watchful eyes tracking their every move.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

"Commissioner Brady, Dr. Manning, D.A. Woods will see you now." The young secretary motioned for Bo and Carly to follow her and led them into a small conference room. "May I get either of you something to drink?" Both answered in the negative, and the secretary left, closing the door behind her. Louis Woods and a younger man neither Bo nor Carly recognized were already seated at the round table. Bo pulled out Carly's chair for her; then sat down next to her, moving the chair closer to Carly's so that he could easily hold his fiancé's-hand.

"Thank you for meeting with us, Mr. Woods," Bo said.

"It's no problem at all, Commissioner. I assured your brother that I would personally oversee the case against Vivian Alamain. I know how important it is that this matter be settled as promptly as possible. Please allow me to introduce Jesse Richards, one of my A.D.A's."

Pleasantries were exchanged all around, but Woods was quick to steer everyone back to the matter at hand. He wasn't at all certain how his next revelation would be received, and he was eager to get it over with.

"Commissioner, some new evidence has been discovered since our last discussion on Friday."

Bo and Carly exchanged looks of confusion, and Bo turned back to the lawyers, asking what evidence they were referring to. Woods nodded tersely to his counterpart, and Jesse rose from the table to open a door adjoining the conference room to presumably another office. Victor Kiriakis entered the room and sat down in the chair recently vacated by the A.D.A who seized another chair and carried it to the table.

Nausea sucker-punched Carly, and for a moment she thought she was going to be sick all over the table. Bo's hand on hers steadied her somewhat, and she gulped several deep breaths to stave off the urge to vomit. For his part, Bo stared his father down across the table, wondering exactly what Victor was doing there. Thinking he might need a knife to hack through the tension in the room, Woods picked up the evidence box at his feet and laid out the contents on the table. Carly's eyes widened at the sight of a lead pipe and a laptop. Clearing her throat, she directed her question to D.A. Woods, pointedly ignoring Victor's presence. "Where did you get those?"

"You recognize them, then, Dr. Manning?"

"Yes, all too well. That's the same computer that Vivian's thug, Gus, had in his possession when he held me hostage in the warehouse the day of Melanie and Phillip's wedding. And that," she faltered, indicating the pipe. "Is the lead pipe that Vivian was going to use to murder my daughter!" Carly's voice rose several octaves due to her emotional state, and Bo held onto her hands, willing her to relax, knowing she would only make herself sick.

Woods only nodded and motioned to Jesse, who was faithfully making notes. "These items have both been entered as State's Evidence and have been examined by my people as well as Ms. Alamain's attorney. As Ms. Alamain remains hospitalized under psychiatric care, her attorney has filed a motion to have her declared mentally incompetent. The State's doctors have also examined her and have come to the same conclusion as the Defense's.

"Wait a minute," Bo interrupted. "Are you saying that Vivian will get to go free after all she's done to Carly?"

"On the contrary, Commissioner, this is quite possibly the best outcome for which we could hope. By entering a mental defect plea, Ms. Alamain's attorney has agreed to the terms of a plea agreement as set forth by my office. Under the circumstances, I thought it best to not subject Dr. Manning to the stress a trial would present when I knew that the outcome would be the same. Based on the diagnoses of the psychiatrists, a judge would have no choice but to rule the defendant mentally incompetent. Thanks to this agreement, Vivian Alamain will spend the remainder of her natural life in a maximum security mental institution. She will never see the light of day outside the walls of the Chesterwood Asylum."

"Right," Carly scoffed. "Vivian will be locked up only until she manages to con one of the doctors into releasing her back into the wilds of society."

"Dr. Manning, please, if you'll only let me finish, I believe you will be reassured by the terms of the sentence."

"Please continue, Mr. Woods," Carly gestured with a wave of her hand. She seriously doubted that anything short of the Iron Maiden would contain Vivian Alamain.

"Under the agreement proposed by my office, Ms. Alamain's attorney will enter a plea of guilty, by reason of mental defect, for the attack on Dr. Manning. Vivian Alamain's fingerprints were found on this lead pipe, and an extensive video feed was retrieved from the hard drive of the laptop in which Ms. Alamain relayed in minute detail her plans to murder Melanie Layton Kiriakis on her wedding day. We also uncovered numerous emails between Vivian and her associate, Gustav Archibald, in which they plotted the demise of Dr. Manning. With all of this to hand, Ms. Alamain is clearly a threat to others in the community. None of the psychiatrists who examined her feel that she can be rehabilitated. Therefore, my office has proposed a lifetime sentence at Chesterwood. The Defense has no objections, and Judge Alderdyce, a longtime friend of Mr. Kiriakis, is prepared to rule in our favor. Provided, of course, that Dr. Manning does not wish to pursue the matter further."

Having spoken his peace, Woods settled back in his chair to await Bo and Carly's decision. The two seemed to be carrying on a conversation with their eyes. Having reached some sort of conclusion, Bo acknowledged his father's presence for the first time.

"What's in this for you, Victor?"

Victor merely shrugged and gave a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Can't a father simply do all within his power to secure the safety of his family?"

Bo returned the smile in kind and replied, "A father can, yes, but you? You don't do anything without an angle. So what is it? Are you hoping to take the spotlight of guilt by association off of yourself by turning over evidence? Or maybe you're thinking that you can come between Carly and me?"

"Oh, I know, he's going to try and finish the job his homicidal girlfriend started," Carly piped up. "Going to rig another elevator, Victor? Should Bo and I resign ourselves to taking the stairs from now on?"

"Bo, Carly, please," Victor began magnanimously. "I am here out of nothing more than concern for my son and his fiancé, who happens to be carrying my grandchild."

"How did you know about that?"

"Good news travels fast, Bo. Surely you know that. And may I be the first to congratulate you? Please feel free to use the mansion as the sight for your upcoming wedding. My home is always open to my family."

Carly slid her chair abruptly away from the table, suddenly assaulted by memories of her wedding to Victor in the mansion's gardens. "Okay, that's it. I'm gonna be sick!" She tore out of the room in search of a bathroom. Bo rose slowly after her, fixing his father with a glacial glare.

"Are you purposely trying to upset Carly?"

Victor, his face the epitome of fatherly concern, instantly replied, "I mean Carly no harm, Bo. You've made it clear that you're in love with her. She's pregnant with your child, my grandchild. All I want for my sons is that they should lead happy and full lives. If Carly brings you that happiness, then I will gladly give you my blessing."

Before Bo could respond, Carly returned and moved immediately into Bo's side, his arm coming to rest around her shoulders. "Are you all right, Princess?"

"Uh huh, what did I miss?"

"Oh, well, Victor here has just given us his blessing."

A verdant gaze swung his way, and Victor was hard pressed not to flinch under Carly's devastating stare. "Doesn't that just make me feel all warm and fuzzy? So should I start referring to you as 'Daddy' now?" she asked, words dripping in derision.

Victor smirked, appearing to be amused by Carly's question. "My dear, you may refer to me as anything you like."

"Careful, Victor, I have quite an extensive vocabulary."

"Okay, look, this isn't getting us anywhere," Bo interjected. "Victor, what are you _really_ doing here?"

"As I stated before, Bo, I am simply looking out for my family. The mother of my grandchild was maliciously attacked. Evidence against the attacker was located on my property, and as any good citizen would do, I turned it over to the proper authorities. As your father, I felt it my place to come here today and offer my support and assistance to my son and his future bride during this difficult time. Please accept my heartfelt apologies if I have overstepped the bounds of familial affection."

Carly made audible gagging noises into Bo's shoulder, and he wasn't altogether positive that she wouldn't actually throw up. It was time to wrap up this three-ring circus and get out before blood was drawn.

"Mr. Woods," Bo appealed to the senior attorney to get them all back on track. "You're certain that Vivian will be locked away in Chesterwood and won't be able to escape?"

"That's right. And her accomplice will also plead guilty at his allocution this afternoon. Not having the luxury of pleading mental incompetence, he will serve the full sentence of twenty-five years for felony kidnapping and conspiracy to commit murder."

"And when will Vivian be moved to Chesterwood?"

"As early as tomorrow, but no later than Friday of this week. It's only a matter of finalizing the paperwork and arranging proper transport. I'll have someone in my office notify you as to the exact date of transfer."

"Will either of us have to go to court?" Carly asked.

"That isn't necessary, Dr. Manning. We have your statement as well as those of a dozen others who witnessed Ms. Alamain's attack on you. Your appearance in court is not required since we aren't going to trial. You certainly have the right to be present during the allocutions of both Ms. Alamain and Mr. Archibald, but if I might offer my personal opinion?

"Go home to your family. Recover fully from the ordeal you've experienced. Resume your lives and plan your future. I personally guarantee that neither Vivian Alamain nor her accomplice will ever bother you again. Don't think on either of them another minute."

"Thank you," Bo said heartily, shaking the attorney's hand. "My family and I are very grateful for all you've done for us these past few weeks."

"No thanks are necessary, Commissioner. Now, if you'll excuse us, we have some last-minute paperwork to file with the clerk. Good luck to you both. Mr. Kiriakis." The two attorneys turned to leave, but Bo called the D.A. back for a final question.

"I hate to bother you with this, but we have some paperwork we need to file ourselves with Family Court. Can you point us in the right direction?"

"Gladly. Ask for Luci Wright. Tell her I sent you, and she'll take care of you."

"Thank you."

Bo and Carly waited for the door to shut behind the two attorneys before turning back to Victor as a unit.

"Oh, you're still here?" Carly asked snidely. "Shouldn't you be resting in the earth of your homeland in order to preserve your evil powers?"

"Carly, you're just as charming as ever. I'm so pleased the years haven't robbed you of your razor-sharp wit."

"Cut to the chase, Victor," Bo said crossly. "What do you want, and for once, would you try to land in the vicinity of the truth?"

Victor gave a deep sigh before answering. "When I learned that Carly was pregnant, I was furious with Vivian for trying to kill her. You know how I feel about family, Bo, and I couldn't sit idly by and allow Vivian to go unpunished for nearly destroying my grandchild. I wanted to ensure that Vivian would be put away for good this time, as she obviously would only make further attempts to end Carly's life."

"Oh, I get it now. If I weren't pregnant, you'd have no objections to Vivian offing me, is that it?"

Victor, for once deciding that honesty was the best policy, replied, "It's no secret that I wanted you out of Bo's life. It's your good fortune that you fell pregnant. As the mother of a Kiriakis heir, you are under my protection. My personal feelings toward you are irrelevant."

Carly couldn't believe her ears. "Un-fucking-believable!" she spat. "For your information, this baby is not a _Kiriakis_ heir. He's a Brady, through and through, and if you think for one instant that I'll allow you to come anywhere _near_ my child, you are gravely mistaken!" Carly made a move towards Victor, but Bo intercepted her and pulled her to him.

"Be still, Princess," Bo told her. "Let me handle this, all right?" Carly eyed Victor warily, but finally gave in, though she did have to put her hands in her pockets just in case they decided to curl themselves around Victor's throat.

"Victor, thank you for turning over the evidence. But I hold you partially responsible for Vivian's attack on Carly. If you'd given me that stuff when I asked you for it, then I could have had Vivian behind bars months ago. She'd never have had the chance to go after Carly again, and I wouldn't have spent the most agonizing moments of my life wondering whether my unborn child would survive. So you'll have to forgive me if I don't trip over myself beating a path to your door for some family bonding time. You could have prevented all this, Victor. But you let your petty jealousy and your hatred of a good woman overshadow any fatherly love you may hold for me. Carly could have died. She could have lost our child. Despite your efforts to the contrary, Carly and our baby are healthy and whole. She and I are going to be married, just as soon as possible. We're going to raise Ciara together, and if you ever want to see any of my children again, then I suggest you think long and hard about what family truly means."

Father and son stared for an endless moment into one another's eyes, and Victor finally understood that he could claim Bo as his son from now 'til eternity and it would make no difference to the man in front of him. If he ever wanted Bo to return the favor, he'd have to do some changing, and he'd also have to accept that Carly Manning was the one Bo had chosen to share his life with. Harder still, was acknowledging the fact that his hatred of Carly stemmed from no other source than his own jilted affections. He'd wanted her, once upon a time, and foolishly thought he could have her, even when it became clear that her heart belonged to Bo. He'd been so determined to have Carly at any cost that he'd willfully plotted the murder of his own son.

Studying the couple in front of him, Victor felt foolish. The bond between his son and Carly was practically a physical link. Bo's arm was around Carly and resting on her hip. Carly's arms were wrapped around Bo's waist, her head on his shoulder, those damned cat's eyes boring holes into Victor. If Bo and Carly had been in love before, that love had only strengthened and deepened with the passage of time. And he, the great Victor Kiriakis, had stupidly thought he could force them apart, bend Bo to his will and force him back to a woman like Hope.

Victor wondered if his photo was located next to the phrase "old fool" in the dictionary. Looking at his son and Carly, Victor felt ridiculous for ever thinking he could come between them. "You've given me some things to think about, Bo. I'll take my leave of you now."

When he had gone from the room, Carly turned to Bo. "He almost seemed _sorry_ at the end," she remarked in disbelief. Bo nodded in agreement, but quickly dismissed his father.

"Maybe he'll think about what I said. To be honest, I don't really give a damn what he thinks anymore. I've made excuses for him for years, tried to have a relationship with him because I thought it was the right thing to do. I'm not sure that I have any forgiveness left. When I think about what could have happened to you…" Bo trailed off, shaking his head to dispel the negative thoughts running through his mind.

"Hey, I'm all right, Bo. The baby is fine, too. Let's not dwell on what could have happened. Let's focus on what will be – our love and our family. Forget about everything else."

Carly's brilliant smile succeeded in driving the shadows from Bo's heart, and he covered her mouth with his, thrilled that even a simple kiss from her could send his spirits soaring. Pulling away he threaded his fingers through hers and tugged her towards the door. They made their way through the maze that was the Salem Courthouse until they ended up, quite by accident, as they took three wrong turns in a row, in front of the entrance to the office of the Clerk of Family Court.

Bo asked for Luci Wright and mentioned D.A. Woods' name. He and Carly were quickly taken to another office where they were warmly greeted by what had to be the oldest woman either of them had ever met. The woman was short, barely five feet by Carly's estimation, and she shuffled over to them slowly presenting a liver-spotted hand for Bo to shake. She repeated the action with Carly, winking conspiratorially and saying, "He's a handsome one, dearie. Hold on tight to him.

"Now, Louie called me and said you had some paperwork to file. He thought I could help ease the way. What have you got?"

Bo liked the woman already. He pulled the custody papers from his coat pocket and handed them to Luci.

"We just need to file this. My ex-wife has relinquished her parental rights to our daughter, and Carly and I would like to make everything official as soon as possible."

Lauren perused the document in her hands. "Well, everything seems in order here. If you'll humor an old lady's curiosity for a moment, may I inquire as to the rush? Are you afraid the birth mother will change her mind?"

Carly answered for them. "Bo and I are getting married soon, and we'd like everything with Ciara to be straightened out before the ceremony. I'm planning on adopting her, you see."

"Oh, that's lovely!" the elderly lady gushed. "I tell you what. As a favor to Louie – his mother was my closest friend, God rest her soul – I'll just drop these on Judge Bolin's desk after her lunch break. She'll sign off on them this afternoon, and you can pick up the final decree from me tomorrow. How does that suit you?"

"That would be wonderful," Carly answered. She could scarcely believe that things could be handled so quickly. If only they could have the same luck in getting Bo's final divorce decree, then she and Bo could literally be married within a couple of weeks.

Bo must have been thinking along the same lines, judging by his next question to Luci. "I don't suppose you have any pull with divorce papers, do you?"

Luci chuckled and responded, "As a matter of fact, young man, I do. When was your paperwork submitted?"

"A few weeks ago, I think. I gave the paperwork to my ex-wife and she was supposed to have her attorney file them."

Luci went to her desk, a structure that looked nearly as ancient as its owner and was heaped with various piles of paper and files. The little old lady retrieved a steno pad and pen from the chaos and asked Bo for the attorney's name and the name of his ex-wife. She took down the information Bo provided and returned the pad and pen to her desk.

"Just give me until tomorrow, and we'll have you all sorted out. By the way, dearie," Luci addressed Carly. "How far along are you?"

The question caught Carly off guard; did she have a sign over her head flashing "pregnant?" Was the Salem gossip mill that fast? Or worse yet, was she already showing? Watching different emotions flit across Carly's face, Luci laughed heartily.

"Oh, honey, I brought nine children into this world, all of them girls. Those nine girls gave me twenty-four grandchildren, and my grandchildren have turned out more great-grandchildren than I can even recall without counting up the heads in the latest family portrait." She waved a wrinkled hand in the direction of a cluster of photographs hanging on the wall, all of them containing large groups of smiling faces.

"When you live as long as I have, you learn to read people and your face is an open book. Besides, you have that glow about you that can only be attributed to impending motherhood."

Carly found herself returning Luci's genuine smile, touched by the kindness reflected in the old lady's lively blue eyes. "I'm ten weeks along. The baby is due in November."

"Congratulations, to both of you. Nothing thrills this old heart of mine more than seeing young and happy families. Now you two head on out and enjoy the rest of your day. Come see me in the morning, and I'll have you one step closer to that walk down the aisle."

"Thank you," Bo said. Then he surprised Luci by leaning down and kissing her weathered cheek.

"Oh, you are a charmer, aren't you?" she chided, but Carly could tell the old lady was thoroughly pleased with Bo's gesture. Luci waved them out the door of her office, and Bo and Carly wound their way back up the long corridor until they reached the elevators.

"Where to now?" Bo asked once they were on the elevator.

"Home. I feel the need for a nap."

"Really?" Bo was surprised that she would so readily admit to feeling tired.

"Definitely. I'd like to re-charge before Ciara gets home from school today, and I'm practically asleep on my feet."

Bo rubbed circles on Carly's back. "Okay, then, let's get you home for some R & R. I'm going to head to the station for a bit; then I'll pick up Ciara this afternoon."

Plans for the afternoon firmly established and both feeling immense relief over the morning's events, the happy couple headed for home.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Time had a way of flying by when there were no unexpected twists and turns to the path on which one trod. On the Tuesday following their initial meeting with her, Luci Wright had presented Bo with the final decrees for both his divorce to Hope and the custodial papers for Ciara. That evening, he and Carly had sat down with Ciara in her bedroom and explained to her, in the simplest form, that they would be able to marry now and that Carly would like to become Ciara's mother.

The little dark-haired beauty had given her consent from her spot on Carly's lap by telling them that she thought Carly already was her mother.

"Yes, Ciara, I'm your mommy in every way that counts," Carly had explained. "But your daddy and I can get a special piece of paper from a judge that will let everyone in the whole world know that you're my daughter, just as much as Melanie is. Would you like that?"

Ciara had answered that yes, she'd like that very much. Then she had worried her lower lip between her teeth, eyes darting back and forth between her parents as though she wanted to ask a question but was afraid to do so.

"What is it, Little One?" Bo had asked his daughter.

"What about my old mommy, Mommy Hope? Will I ever see her again?"

"Would you like to see her again?" Carly had asked gently, her heart aching for this precious child who had been through so much in her short life. Ciara had thought long and hard on the question; then she turned to Carly and buried her face in her neck.

"I don't know," came the muffled reply. "She got so mad at me before, and I don't even know what I did. She said mean things to me, and she scared me."

Carly continued to hold Ciara to her while Bo leaned over and stroked her back, fury flowing in his veins at Hope as Ciara's tiny body began to shake with sobs. "How did she scare you, baby?" Carly asked, knowing all too well that Bo was unable to speak at the moment because of his anger.

"She said I was bad, but I'm not bad!" Ciara cried. "And then she said that you were mean and you had made Daddy hate her. But you aren't mean, you're my mommy and you love me and Daddy! Why would she say those mean things?"

Ciara continued to shiver in Carly's arms, and Carly felt her own tears begin to flow. Bo had wrapped his arms around both of them, and he and Carly spent the better part of an hour whispering words of love and reassurance to Ciara until the child fell into a restful sleep, safe-guarded in her parents' love.

The next morning, Ciara had awakened her bubbly self, but over the coming weeks, she had often awakened Carly in the middle of the night seeking refuge from nightmares – the details of which the child would share with no one. The days became weeks, and Carly's little family continued to bond. The household fell into to a regular routine. Carly continued to throw up in the mornings, but after two weeks at home she was declared fit for duty and went back to work at the hospital. Bo was home most every night from the police station in time for dinner, and he and Carly did all they could to give Ciara a stable environment.

Carys and Melanie took over supervision of Ciara after school. Carys declared Ciara her "mini-chef" and allowed the child to help out with dinner preparations. Melanie always had some sort of craft for Ciara to work on when she was finished with Carys, and Bo and Carly loved coming home to whatever artwork Ciara had produced that afternoon. The walls in both their offices were decorated with "Ciara Originals," as Phillip referred to them.

Phillip and Nick were over the moon about a merger of Titan and Valkeryie, a publishing company owned by Alamain Enterprises. The young businessmen had come to a lucrative agreement to merge the two publishing houses, opening up new avenues to different authors, and though the details went over her head, Carly was nonetheless thrilled at her son's newfound happiness.

As the calendar ticked over into her second trimester, Carly found that her morning bouts of nausea were decreasing while, quite literally overnight, her waistline increased. While dressing for work, on a day that marked the half-way point of her sixteenth week of pregnancy, Carly was unable to locate a single pair of pants in her closet that would properly fit over her baby bump. She was struggling with the last pair of slacks to her name when Bo found her in the bedroom, having grown concerned when she hadn't turned up at the breakfast table.

"Not one word," Carly warned Bo, seeing the glint of humor in his eyes.

Bo held up his hands in mock surrender. "I didn't say anything."

"You were thinking it," Carly accused. Giving up on the pants, she stripped them off and flung the offending garment onto a growing pile of rejects.

"Do you even have any clothes left in your closet?" Bo asked, coming closer to examine the mountain of clothing in the floor.

"No," Carly answered glumly. "I suppose I'm going to have to go shopping. I honestly don't have a thing to wear!" She dropped gracelessly down on the bed, clad only in bra and panties, eyeing her closet with disgust.

Bo reached into the caverns of the closet and pulled out a pair of track pants and an admittedly shapeless t-shirt advertising the Brady Pub. He handed the garments to Carly, who took them, but didn't look happy about it. Huffing, she pulled on the pants, which thanks to their forgiving elastic waist were able to be folded somewhat comfortably under her belly.

"I think you need a bigger bra," Bo said, completely out of the blue.

"Huh?" Carly muttered, staring down at her bust. "Why?"

"Because you're spilling out of that one. Look." Bo indicated the tops of Carly's breasts which were, indeed, flowing over the cups of her demi-bra.

"But I love this bra." She was almost whining. "It's polka-dotted."

"Well, just go up a cup size or something," Bo said logically. "I'm telling you, Princess, you're breasts are getting bigger. Trust me on this. I'm an expert on the subject," he said, moving in closer to her and sliding his arms around her waist.

"You are, huh? And tell me, Mr. Brady, what exactly is your 'expert' opinion?" She yelped when Bo unhooked the bra with a flick of his wrist. He pulled it from her body, immediately replacing the material with his own two hands.

"My 'expert' opinion, Dr. Manning, is that you should get rid of the thing and find something that fits…more appropriately." His hands stroked and massaged the tender globes of flesh, which really had grown considerably already with her pregnancy. Her breasts had increased in sensitivity along with size, and Carly couldn't suppress the moan that poured from her mouth. When his mouth took over the work of his hands, Carly went weak in the knees and sank gratefully onto the bed behind her.

Much later in the morning, Bo and Carly descended the stairs to find only Melanie and Carys still at home and cleaning up the aftermath of breakfast. Melanie took in the track pants and t-shirt her mother was wearing and asked cheekily, "Is it laundry day?"

"Very funny," Carly answered, swatting playfully at her daughter's arm.

"Your mom was having a little trouble getting dressed this morning. I think you ladies should spend the day shopping." Bo offered helpfully.

"I thought you had a shift this morning," said Melanie.

Carly shook her head. "Your dad's covering for me so I can get some clothes that actually fit. It was either that or risk offending my patients by turning up in my pajamas."

Bo, who had fixed himself a cup of coffee to go, leaned down to kiss Carly's cheek. "Where's Ciara?"

"We were afraid to wait any longer on you two," Melanie explained, a knowing gleam in her eyes. "When it became clear that you had been detained, the guys offered to drop off Ciara on their way into the office."

Carys loaded the last of the breakfast dishes into the dishwasher and came to stand beside Melanie. "Are either of you hungry? I managed to keep back a few muffins." She indicated a storage container on the counter. Carly took two and offered one to Bo, who shook his head. Shrugging her shoulders, Carly kept the extra for herself. It was wonderful to be able to enjoy food again.

"I'll see you tonight, Princess. Have fun shopping." He gave Carly a quick peck on the lips and headed out to the garage. "Bye, girls!" he called over his shoulder.

"So, shopping?" Melanie said when Bo had gone.

"I'm afraid so," Carly lamented. She really didn't like clothes shopping, at least not for herself. She'd had a ball a couple of weeks ago when she and the girls had taken Ciara shopping. Outfitting the little girl had been fun, watching her parade around the stores in the various choices they had selected.

But shopping for herself, for a maternity wardrobe? Carly shuddered. Still, it had to be done, and at least she wouldn't have to face the task alone. Melanie and Carys looked positively orgasmic at the prospect of a shopping day. All she'd have to do was turn them loose in the stores and let them do the work for her.

"What are we waiting for?" Carys asked, purse at the ready. She thrust Carly's and Melanie's handbags at them and the three set off for the car. On the way to the shopping district, Carly decided to stop by Ciara's school and check her out early. She knew Ciara would enjoy the shopping day, and Carly suddenly couldn't bear the thought of her little girl being disappointed over missing out. Though not born of her body, Ciara was nonetheless the daughter of Carly's heart, and she truthfully hated being apart from her.

Leaving Carys and Melanie in the car, Carly quickly made her way to the school office. The school secretary sent for Ciara, who upon arrival in the office, ran to Carly and wrapped her arms around her mommy's legs.

"Mommy! What are you doing here?" Carly picked up Ciara, balancing her carefully on her hip to accommodate her belly and tossed her school bag over her shoulder.

"Thanks, Mrs. Simmons," Carly said to the secretary as she carried Ciara out the door.

"Well, I decided to play hooky from work today to go shopping. Carys and Melanie are going with me, but I couldn't go shopping without my best helper."

"That's me!" Ciara shouted gleefully.

"Who else would it be?" Carly asked. They reached the car, and Ciara hopped into her booster seat and allowed Carly to strap her in. Back in the driver's seat, she pulled the car away from the curb, Ciara jabbering away excitedly about all the things they needed to buy. She stopped mid-stream and wondered aloud, "Why do we need to buy you new clothes, Mommy?"

"Because my old ones don't fit me anymore," Carly explained.

"Is it because your belly's getting big?"

"Mmm-hmm. I tried to get dressed this morning, but guess what? None of my pants would fit over my belly!"

Ciara laughed along with her mommy. She loved spending time with her mommy and her sisters, as she thought of Melanie and Carys, but sometimes she wondered about her old mommy, too. She didn't talk about her, though. Thinking about her old mommy made Ciara remember how scared she had been the last few times she was with her. Sometimes she had bad dreams about her old mommy and would wake up wanting her daddy and her new mommy. They didn't yell at Ciara or say mean things about other people.

Ciara remembered how her daddy and her old mommy would sometimes fight. It always scared her when they yelled at each other. But now Daddy was happy all the time. He spent extra time with her, and he was there to tuck her in at night along with Mommy. She got to see Uncle Phillip every day. Nick called her "Munchkin," which made her laugh, and he was never too tired to play games with her or push her on the swings. Carys let her help in the kitchen, and Melanie colored pictures with her.

In her five-year-old world, Ciara felt like a princess, which was what Daddy called Mommy sometimes. Mommy always smiled when Daddy called her that, and it made Ciara smile, too. Whenever she got scared of her old mommy, Ciara would just think about Daddy and Mommy reading her a story or talking with her about her day and she would quickly feel better. And soon her new baby brother or sister would be here. Ciara was a little fuzzy on exactly how the baby would get out of her mommy's tummy, and she resolved to ask her parents about it later.

The car came to a stop, and Ciara looked up realizing they were at a row of shops at Salem Place. Her child's mind cast off all thoughts of her old mommy and even how babies got out of their mommies' tummies. There was shopping to be done, and Ciara was a born clotheshorse.

She bounced excitedly in her booster seat waiting for Mommy to get her out. She held tightly to her mommy's hand and the four set off down the sidewalk in search of a maternity store.

"Oh, here, Mom," Melanie said, leading them into a store called _Pickles and Ice Cream_. "I've heard some of the moms on the maternity floor talk about this place."

They entered the store, and Carly was pleasantly surprised with the trendy choices the boutique carried. Carys got a salesgirl to help them, and within five minutes, Carly found herself ensconced in a dressing room with different articles of clothing being thrust at her from all directions.

"Slow down, you guys!" Carly begged from inside the dressing room. "I'll never be able to try on all these!" But Carly did, and she found that she liked nearly everything she came across. After trying on each piece, Carly would hand it back to Melanie with instructions to either keep it or put it back. She made her way to the bottom of the pile at last and pulled on a pair of flare-legged jeans and a gray t-shirt with the words "Hot Mama" written in black letters.

Ecstatic over the fit of the jeans, Carly ripped the tags off both pieces and handed them to Melanie upon leaving the dressing room. She had folded up the track pants and shirt she'd been wearing and carried them under her arm to the counter. "May I have an extra bag, please?" she asked the clerk.

"Of course. Most of our moms end up wearing a new outfit out of the store. It just makes you feel better to have on something cute, doesn't it?"

"It does. I hate shopping and have been dreading having to look for maternity clothes," Carly said, handing the clerk her credit card. "But this was actually fun!"

Melanie feigned shock at her mother's statement. "Quick, my mother just admitted to enjoying shopping! We should alert the media."

"My daughter, the comedienne," Carly said sarcastically, but she was laughing, too. The clerk finished the transaction, and handed three full bags to Carys and Melanie. Rather than dragging the bags with them to the next store, they opted to stow them in the trunk of the car. While doing that, Carly remarked that she also needed to buy some bigger bras.

Melanie eyed her mother's bust-line enviously. "Oh, to have that problem," she lamented, looking down at her own chest.

"Your day's coming, sweetheart, trust me." Carly linked her arm through Melanie's and took Ciara by the hand. The four wandered down the sidewalk until they came to _The Fitting Touch,_ a lingerie store that also carried a line of maternity and nursing bras.

"This is our _Hotmilk_ collection," the clerk explained, showing them a large display of what Carly had to admit were very stylish bras. "All of the bras are suitable for nursing so you can wear them throughout pregnancy and breastfeeding."

"What's 'breastfeeding'?" Ciara inquired, catching Carly off guard. Carys, Melanie and the clerk all hid smiles, but offered no help.

"Mommy, what is it?" Ciara asked again. Carly knelt down so she could meet Ciara's eyes.

"It's a special way that mommies feed their babies when they're born, sweetheart. Sometimes people call it 'nursing.'"

"You mean like the nurses at the hospital?"

"No, honey, it's different. When a baby is born, this part of a woman's body," Carly touched her chest in illustration, but Ciara interrupted her before she could continue.

"You mean 'boobs'?" Ciara asked innocently, and Melanie had to walk off a bit to keep Ciara from hearing her laugh.

"Yes, honey, but let's not use that word, okay?" Carly chided gently. Ciara shrugged, still waiting on an explanation. Carly sighed and tried again. "When a woman has a baby, her breasts fill with milk for the baby to drink. That's what breastfeeding means. Do you understand?"

Ciara nodded, but then asked, "How come Elizabeth's baby brother drank from a bottle then? Did Mrs. Karen's boobs not fill up with milk?"

 _Dear God, how do I get myself in these situations?_ She had since lost both Carys and the clerk, who had joined Melanie a few feet away, laughing it up over her embarrassment. _Manning, you have got to learn when to shut up!_

"Not every mommy decides to breastfeed, sweetheart. Some mommies feed their babies with bottles. But it isn't really something we should talk about in public, do you understand? If you still have questions, we'll talk about them when we get home, okay?"

Ciara nodded earnestly, and Carly breathed a sigh of relief. She straightened back up and motioned for Carys, Melanie and the clerk to come back over. Ciara continued to mull over this new bit of information until it dawned on her what the problem with Mrs. Karen was. Eager to share her conclusions with her mommy, she tugged on Carly's hand, who obligingly turned her attention back to her daughter.

"I bet Mrs. Karen had to use a bottle because her boobs were real small. Yours are really big, Mommy, so I bet they'll make lots of milk."

Had Ciara not voiced her observations so loudly, Carly thought she perhaps could have better handled the situation. As it was, Carly fervently wished that the ground would open up at her feet and swallow her whole. Ciara's proclamation drew the attention of every shopper in the store. Thankfully, it was an entirely female population, but still…

"Munchkin," Carly said as gently as possible. The last thing she wanted was for Ciara to think she was in any way angry at her. "It isn't really a good idea to talk about the size of women's breasts, or anyone's body parts, for that matter. We just don't do it."

"But," Ciara protested, clearly not seeing what the problem was. "Daddy talks about your boobs all the time. I've heard him."

 _Well, fuck, just kill me now_! "Ciara, baby, please for the love of all that is holy, can we stop talking about boobs?"

"Okay, mommy," Ciara agreed amiably.

Carys, seized by inspiration and in the hope of sparing Carly further embarrassment, leaned down to Ciara and asked if she'd like to go and get a slushee from the snack vendor outside. Attracted by the lure of icy-cold sugar, Ciara happily abandoned the subject of boobs and went willingly with Carys out into the courtyard.

Carly let out a sigh of relief and turned back to Melanie and the sales clerk, both of whom dissolved into laughter once Ciara and Carys were gone.

"Oh my God! You should see your face right now, Mom!"

"All things considered, I'd rather not." Summoning what little dignity she had left, Carly addressed the sales clerk. "I'd like to be fitted for a bra, please. Then I'll take one of every style you have in my size. Then I'd like to get the hell out of here."

"Yes, ma'am, if you'll just follow me into one of our fitting rooms, I'll have you measured and out of here in no time." Carly went with the clerk, who true to her word, promptly measured her. Declaring her to be a 34 DDD, the clerk headed off to collect some bras, returning eventually with an arm-load of lingerie.

"I took the liberty of selecting the matching panties that go with this collection. I'll leave you to try these on."

"That won't be necessary," Carly said and gave the stunned clerk her credit card. "I'll take them all, the panties, too."

"Are you sure?" the girl asked. She was doing the calculation in her head – a purchase of this dollar amount would make her sales quota for the entire quarter.

Carly nodded her head briskly and pushed the clerk towards the counter. "I'm positive. And please, let's get a move on."

The clerk needed no further inducement and scurried to the counter with one of nearly every bra and panty set from the _Hotmilk_ line. She quickly rang up the sale and handed Carly the credit card slip to sign. Carly furiously scribbled her signature at the bottom, grabbed the two large bags off the counter and took off out the door, Melanie struggling to catch up.

Outside they met up with Carys and Ciara, the latter of which was happily distracted with her frozen treat. "That was fast," Carys commented.

"Not nearly fast enough," Carly said, still slightly mortified over the entire scenario. "Thank you for the distraction."

"You're welcome. I only thought I should get her out of there before she could think of any more questions to ask."

"Mom, is there anywhere else you want to go?" asked Melanie.

"Not here, but I would like to go to _Babies R Us_. Anne told me about some lotion I could get there to help with stretch marks. Are you girls up for it?" Three heads bobbed in affirmation, and they headed for the car.

The stop at _Babies R Us_ led to an outing at _Buy, Buy Baby_. They found so many gadgets and gizmos that all seemed completely and totally needed to successfully raise a baby that they actually took photos of them to research the items further when they got home. They discussed everything for babies from diapers to cribs to baby lotions. It was a bit overwhelming, and Ciara got tired at _Buy, Buy Baby_ , making her quite cranky.

Abandoning baby product research, they headed for home where Carly put Ciara down for a much needed nap. Melanie and Carys helped her sort through her new wardrobe and though it took over an hour, they were able to return her regular clothes to the closet and also hang up all the new purchases.

Carys made dinner and one by one, the men returned home, Bo the last one to arrive. The family had just sat down to eat their evening meal when Ciara remembered that she had a very important question to ask her parents.

"Daddy, Mommy, I need to ask you something," she said and laid aside her fork.

"Anything, Little One, what's on your mind?" Bo inquired.

"Well, I know that the baby is in Mommy's tummy. But how will the baby get out when it's time for it to be born?" Carly, having answered her limit of embarrassing questions for the day, sat back and allowed Bo to field this one.

"Um, well, Ciara, when it's time for the baby to be born, we'll take Mommy to the hospital and the doctor will take the baby out of her tummy." Bo prayed that the simple explanation was enough for his precocious daughter. When Ciara nodded her head thoughtfully and resumed eating, Bo foolishly thought he was in the clear.

The small talk among the adults started up again, but abruptly ceased when Ciara laid down her fork once more and said she had only one more question about the baby. "What is it, honey?" Bo asked, expecting a question about what the baby would be like at birth.

"How did the baby get in Mommy's tummy to begin with?"


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

"How did the baby get in Mommy's tummy to begin with?"

Ciara trustingly watched her father, waiting patiently for an answer.

One by one, the adults at the table turned to Bo, wondering what he would say. Bo was wondering what he would say, too. He was on the verge of pointing out to Carly that as a member of the medical field, she would be the most qualified person at the table to answer the question when the doorbell rang, shattering the awkward silence like a gunshot. Six voices shouted out in chorus, "I'll get it!"

Bo, Carly, Nick, Carys, Phillip and Melanie fled from the table as though it were on fire. Ciara, having no idea why her family was so anxious to greet a visitor, ambled out into the living room where Nick, Phillip and her daddy were fighting over who would open the door. Ciara watched as her mommy shoved through the boys to get to the door, but she couldn't see who was on the other side.

Carly opened the door to a petite and pretty brunette. Eyes the color of very fine whisky perused Carly from head to toe before bow-shaped lips turned up into a dimpled grin. "So you're the new wicked stepmother."

"Does that make you Cinderella?" Carly asked, grinning back at the girl who she knew from various photos to be Chelsea Brady.

"Just hand me a broom," Chelsea replied cheekily. Then she pulled Carly into a hug surprising the older woman. Carly returned the hug and both turned to face the rest of the family. Bo waited a split second before pulling his older daughter into his arms, crushing her to him. Not one to be left out of the reunion, Ciara ran to her father and Chelsea crying out, "Sissy!" and flinging her little arms around her big sister's legs.

"Hey, Shortcake!" Chelsea lifted Ciara into her arms and kissed the little girl's cheek. "I missed you."

"I missed you, too! But now you're home. How long are you staying? You have to be here when the baby is born. Did you know we're getting a baby?" Ciara jabbered away.

"I heard about that, Shortcake. That's part of the reason I'm here."

"Not that I'm not thrilled to see you, Chels, but what are you doing here?" Bo asked.

Sitting Ciara down, Chelsea eyed her father strangely. "I'm here for the wedding."

Bo and Carly glanced at one another and turned to Chelsea. "What wedding?" they asked together.

"Wow, do you two do that a lot?"

"All the time," Nick volunteered. "Oh, I'm Nick, by the way. It's nice to meet you in person."

"Back at you. Hey, Mel, how you been?"

"Let's see. I found out my parents weren't really who I thought they were. I almost died. Then my mom was stabbed by a raving loony, you know, the usual."

"Sounds like a normal day in Salem to me."

"Pretty much, yeah." Then both girls grinned and flung their arms around each other.

"So, what, are you like my aunt now or something? Or stepsister? I think this family tree of ours may be getting a little twisted." Chelsea winked at her "Uncle" Phillip.

"No doubt. In the meantime, you've met Nick, my brother, and this is Carys, his fiancé."

Chelsea took Carys's proffered hand. "Damn, you're tall." The observation was offered with a smile so Carys fired back with, "And you're a bit on the short side."

"Scotland?" Chelsea asked in reference to Carys's accent.

"Just outside Edinborough."

"Cool." Chelsea rounded to Bo and Carly. "So, the wedding?"

"What wedding? Are you getting married?" Bo asked, searching over Chelsea's shoulder for an unknown fiancé.

"No, you are," Chelsea said slowly. "Jeez, Dad, I know you're getting up there, but I thought I had a few more years before I had to worry about senility issues."

Another set of confused glances between Bo and Carly; then Bo asked, "What do you mean, I'm getting married?"

Now it was Chelsea's turn to look confused. She turned to Melanie, Phillip, Nick and Carys for assistance. "Mel said you were. They all did. We've been tweeting about it for days." She grabbed Carly's left hand where the three-stoned diamond ring gleamed under the lights of the foyer.

"You've got a ring on your finger. And a bun in the oven. They," she waived her hand at the foursome off to the side, "said you were getting married and that I needed to come and help plan the wedding."

"Well, we are getting married, but…"

"We haven't really made any plans," Carly finished. "It's sort of been non-stop drama around here these past few weeks, and we've been operating on a day -to -day basis."

Chelsea nodded thoughtfully. Then she turned to the assorted family members behind her. "Right, well, don't worry about a thing. We'll get everything planned. All you two have to do is show up.

"Phillip, you and Nick get my bags. Mel, where do I crash?" Melanie and Carys set off with Chelsea, Ciara tagging along. The boys obediently followed with the bags, leaving Carly and Bo standing in the foyer.

"What just happened here?" Carly asked. Bo wrapped his arms around her from behind and took the opportunity to kiss the side of her neck.

"I'm not sure, but I think that our kids have been plotting behind our backs to get us down the aisle."

"So what do we do?"

"Get married."

"But we can't just let our kids plan our wedding for us!"

"Why not? Princess, I don't care when, where or even how we get married. We can have a huge ceremony at St. Bernadette's, or we can go down to the courthouse. Hell, I'll even fly you to Vegas and let one of those Elvis impersonators marry us. My point is neither you nor I is big on planning, right?"

Carly nodded reluctantly.

"So if our kids want to plan it for us, what's the harm? It might be fun to sit back and let someone else do all the heavy lifting. You and I can concentrate on preparing for the baby and finalizing Ciara's adoption. Melanie, Carys and Chelsea can pick out a dress for you and a tux for me, and Phillip and Nick run multi-billion dollar companies. I'm pretty sure they can manage to find a licensed member of the clergy."

"You really want to just let the kids handle everything?"

"Why not?" Bo asked again. "That way we can plan the really important part of the wedding." He laid a series of open-mouthed kisses along the column of her neck, and Carly felt her anxiety give way to an entirely different kind of tension. She leaned further back against him as his hands slid slowly down to grip the feminine flare of her hips.

"Oh, yeah, and what's that?" Carly asked. She ground her hips against him causing Bo to groan into her hair.

"The wedding night," he whispered and turned her in his arms to kiss her.

"How fast do you think we could get to our room?"

Carly's groan was one of frustration as she heard the pounding footsteps of their various offspring thundering back down the stairs. "Not fast enough. Hold that thought, Sailor. Meet me in my bedroom later?"

"I don't know, Princess. See, my fiancé is the jealous type. She probably wouldn't like it very much if she caught us together."

"Oh, I'll talk to her. I think I can convince her to share." They indulged in another kiss, separating just as Ciara reached them. She took them each by the hand and pulled them in the direction of the dining room.

"Come on, Mommy and Daddy! Sissy says she's starving."

"That's right," Chelsea announced. "Mom says if you don't properly feed and water me, she's flying over here to kick both your asses. By the way, she sends her love to the both of you."

The group arrived back at the dinner table where Phillip dragged up an extra chair for his niece and Carys set to filling another plate. Chelsea took one bite and moaned in bliss. "Oh my God! This is exquisite. Who's the chef?"

"That would be me," Carys answered.

"Do you do all the cooking?"

Carys nodded.

"I'd better add an extra mile to my morning run." Chelsea dug into the remainder of her meal, while the rest of the family did likewise. Chelsea asked and answered her fair share of questions, but danced around the ones she really wanted to ask. She doubted her dad would want to divulge too much in front of Ciara. Plus her mother was expecting a full report from Chelsea later on. She should probably make some notes.

Billie Reed had filled her daughter in on Carly and Bo's history, and throughout the trans-Atlantic flight, Chelsea had wondered about the woman who had left such a mark on her father's life, that he'd basically found it too painful to even speak her name after she left him. She was looking forward to getting to know Carly Manning.

"I think that was the best meal I've ever eaten in my life," Chelsea declared when she was finished. "Where did you learn to cook like that?"

"My grandmother. I can teach you a few things if you're interested," Carys offered. She and Melanie rose at the same time to begin clearing away the dishes. Chelsea hopped up to help, and the three girls quickly carted the dirty dishes to the kitchen.

Carly told Ciara that it was time to get ready for bed. "Why don't you go and say goodnight to your sisters?" Rather than comply, Ciara sank into a pout, refusing to move from her chair.

"Come on, Little One," Bo chided gently. "You heard your mom."

Ciara shook her head, her dark eyes gleaming in rebellion. Carly pulled Ciara onto her lap. The little girl went, but the pout remained. "Munchkin, tell me what's bothering you. Do you not want to go to bed?"

"You and Daddy always say I can ask you anything," Ciara said belligerently.

"That's right. What is it that you want to ask?"

"I already asked it and no one would tell me." Phillip and Nick, rightly discerning that Ciara was referring to her earlier question about the origin of her baby sibling, decided that the girls needed their help immediately and all but ran into the kitchen. "I just wanna know how the baby got in your tummy and no one will tell me."

"Sweetheart," Bo began, kneeling beside Carly's chair. "We didn't mean to ignore your question. It's only that the doorbell rang and we had to see who was outside. You understand don't you?"

Ciara refused to meet her father's glance, instead staring down at her lap, sulking for all she was worth. Chelsea, who had heard this last little exchange from the kitchen doorway, walked over to her father and Carly.

"Let me," she said to the adults who were clearly at a loss as to how to proceed. Neither could come up with a plausible answer to Ciara's question that was not an out-and-out lie or that would not lead to even more questions. Taking their silence as permission, Chelsea knelt down next to her father and rubbed her little sister's back. "Hey, kid. Why don't you tell your sissy what's wrong?"

Snuffling, Ciara raised her head and said to Chelsea, "I wanna know how the baby got in Mommy's tummy, and they won't tell me. I'm not even sure if they know," she added, causing Bo and Carly to hide smiles behind their hands.

Chelsea smiled, too, and said to Ciara, "They know, Shortcake. It's only that it's a little hard to explain."

Ciara cocked an eyebrow in perfect imitation of Carly and replied, "I'm very smart for my age."

"I know you are, Shortcake, and that's why I'm going to tell you. See, when mommies and daddies love each other very much sometimes the love gets really, really big and it makes a baby inside the mommy's tummy. Then the baby gets bigger and bigger until one day, the baby is big enough to be born. Then everyone else who loves the mommy and daddy can see and hold the baby and love the baby, too. Do you understand?"

Ciara mulled over this new information carefully before nodding her head. Then she turned back to her parents and in an almost accusatory tone, she asked, "Why couldn't you have just told me that?"

Nearly choking on her laughter, Carly managed to squeeze out, "Because your sissy is way smarter than your parents. Now, shall we get you ready for bed?"

"Yes, Mommy. Goodnight, Sissy." Ciara hugged Chelsea and kissed her cheek. "Will you tell everyone else good night for me? I'm very sleepy." A yawn escaped her mouth, accentuating the truth behind her statement.

"I will, Shortcake. Tomorrow when you get home from school, you and I have an appointment with a deck of cards."

"Go Fish?" Ciara asked, eyes glittering with competitive exhilaration.

"You know it."

Grinning from ear to ear, Ciara kissed her daddy and allowed her mommy to lead her to her bedroom. Once Carly and Ciara had disappeared down the hallway, Chelsea turned to her father.

"You two had better step it up. You're gonna have your hands full with her."

"Don't remind me. Thanks for that, by the way. That was a perfect explanation for a kid her age."

"Want me to write it down for you to use on the next one?"

Rolling his eyes, Bo slid his arm around Chelsea's shoulders and pulled her in the direction of the kitchen. "Yeah, you probably should. Come on, let's get you a drink. Carly'll be down in a few minutes, and I'm sure you've got a lot of questions for us."

"Do I ever? Mel gave me the Cliff's Notes, but there are some pretty big holes that need filling in."

"Here, you'll definitely want one of these," Melanie said, handing Chelsea a beer. Noting that the others all had various forms of liquor in hand, Chelsea took the beer, thinking that she might need more than one before the night was out.

They all made their way out to the living room, Bo bringing a bottle of water for Carly. "So when did you guys decide to waylay us with a wedding?" he asked when they had all taken seats.

Melanie grinned sheepishly. "We knew you and Mom wanted to get married, but we also realized that with everything happening so fast, you hadn't really had time to discuss any plans."

"Enter us," Chelsea contributed. "We have loads of time and excellent planning skills. Mel knew that I'd want to help so I'm here for the duration."

"The girls told us what they had discussed, and it seemed like a good idea to us," Phillip told his brother. "We just want you and Carly to be happy, man. And we know that you both would like to be married before the baby comes."

Bo, touched by his family's thoughtfulness, could only nod in thanks. "I'm glad you're here, Chels. Have you talked with Shawn lately? I've been trying to reach him, but we keep missing each other."

A brief shadow of sadness flitted in Chelsea's eyes at the mention of her elder brother, but she blinked it away quickly. Bo noticed it immediately. "What's going on with Shawn? Are he and Belle all right? Did something to happen to Claire?"

"What's wrong with Shawn?" Carly echoed, coming into the living room. Bo tugged her onto his lap, his hand coming to rest on the gentle swell of her belly. He handed Carly her water and said, "That's what Chelsea was about to tell us."

"Look, Dad, nothing's wrong with Shawn. He's just, to be honest, he's really pissed at you right now. He talked to his grandparents, and they told him about what went down with you and Hope. I think that he and Belle were somewhere around Greece, but they're heading home.

"I talked to him before I left London, tried to convince him to at least sit down and talk with you, but he's furious. He's been trying to contact Hope and he said it's like she's fallen off the face of the earth. Have you guys heard anything from her?"

Bo and Carly shook their heads. "We haven't seen or heard from her since she left town."

"Well, Shawn says there's no way in hell that Hope would leave Ciara. He's really angry, Dad. And he said some pretty foul things about you, Carly. I'm not going to bother repeating them, but he is definitely not your biggest fan."

"Does he know about the baby?" Carly asked.

"Doug and Julie told him, but it was just one more thing for him to be mad about. Look, he ended up hanging up on me, too, when I told him that I was coming here to support you. I sent Belle a couple of tweets and emails, but she hasn't responded. I don't know if she's pissed at us all, too, or if she's just trying to keep peace between her and Shawn. Shawn did tell me that they were coming to Salem, though, before he hung up on me. I think he's hoping he can convince you to break things off with Carly. Or he may just want to yell at you in person. I don't know how long it will take them to get here."

"If they were in Greece, it shouldn't take more than a week at this time of year," Bo said. "I guess we'd better batten down the hatches, Princess."

"I'm sorry, Bo. I wish that our relationship wasn't putting you at odds with Shawn."

"Hey, don't worry about it. It'll all work out somehow, you'll see."

"But, he's your son. I can't stand the thought that he hates you because of me."

"He doesn't hate me, Princess. We've butted heads more than once over the years. This isn't the first time, and it won't be the last. He and I will get past it eventually. We always do. Promise me you won't let this worry you. You've finally stopped hurling every morning. I don't want you start again because you're stressed out."

Bo rested his forehead against Carly's, and she nodded. "I promise."

"Good. Now, I believe our kids are trying to plan us a wedding."

"That's right," Nick said. "Carys, Mel and Chelsea are looking into venues and attire. Phillip and I are supposed to find a minister."

"See, I told you, Princess," Bo said, smiling. Carly started giggling.

"Did we miss something?" Phillip asked, trying to figure out why his brother and Carly were grinning like idiots.

"You had to be there," Carly said. "Maybe we're all getting to know one another a little too well."

"Um, okay, moving on," Chelsea said. "Vivian Alamain – she's locked up tight, right? No chance she's gonna pop out of my closet one night is there?"

"No, she's heavily sedated at Chesterwood. She won't be bothering anyone again, except for the unfortunate orderly who'll have the job of carting her dead body out to the morgue." Carly's tone left no mystery as to her true feelings towards the woman who had brought so much misery to her life.

"Jeez, remind me to never piss you off," Chelsea grinned. "You seem like you can hold a grudge."

"I'll try and curb the wicked stepmother persona."

"Good because I suck at cleaning."

"Yes, she does," Bo attested.

"So you're really going to let us plan the wedding?" Melanie asked, looking for all the world like she wanted to jump up and down. Bo and Carly shared a look.

"Looks that way," Carly said finally. "But I have a couple of rules. No taffeta, nothing tea-length unless it's for Ciara and no doves."

"But doves are pretty," Melanie pouted.

"No doves," Carly repeated.

"Oh, all right. Anything else?" Melanie asked, a bit glum at the prospect of not having dozens of birds released at her mother's nuptials.

"Nope, I'm open to pretty much anything else. Bo?"

"As long as someone with the proper authority pronounces us man and wife, I don't care about the details."

"This is going to be so much fun!" There was a gleam in Melanie's eyes that almost made Carly nervous, but in the end she decided to just go with it.

"Wait! Before we all disperse, we need to nail down a date," Carys suggested. "Do either of you have a preference?"

"Um, I'll have to check things at the hospital, to see what my schedule looks like over the next few weeks."

"Already covered," Melanie said. "Dad and Lexie are on stand-by. They said they'll handle your shifts for the wedding and however long you want to be gone for a honeymoon. I just have to give Dad the specifics."

"I'll need to get some things in place at the station…" Bo stopped talking when Chelsea starting shaking her head.

"Uncle Roman and Abe said for you not to worry. They'll take care of everything police-related."

"Sounds like all we really have to do is show up, Princess."

"I think we can manage that. Let's see, today's the 22nd. How about July 10th? That's almost two weeks away. Will that give you five enough time to sort out the details?" Carly asked.

"More than enough," Melanie assured her mother. "Carys has already sent your measurements to the designer that's working on your dress."

"How did you get my measurements?" Carly was the first to admit she'd been on auto-pilot lately, but she was fairly certain she'd remember someone coming at her with a measuring tape.

"Easy. We sent the designer the sizes of all the stuff you bought today. You'll have to have a fitting or two, but the designer said that's just a formality. She came highly recommended, Mom. She's very sought after."

"And does this 'sought after' designer have a name?"

"Santana Goiri," Melanie replied and watched as her mother's eyes widened.

"The Santana Goiri? Santana Goiri who designs dresses for European royalty? You got Santana Goiri to design a wedding dress for me?"

"Yep. She's a close, personal friend of Chelsea's mom," Melanie explained.

"Close, personal friend," Carly repeated. "Santana Goiri?" Try as she might, Carly just couldn't comprehend that someone as famous as Santana Goiri would design a dress for her. Sought after, indeed, she thought.

"Uh huh," said Chelsea. "Oh, and Mom's planning on attending the wedding, too. That won't be a problem, will it?"

"Not for me," Carly replied.

"Me, either," said Bo.

"Good, she and Santana will be on the first flight over. Is it all right if they stay here?"

"Um, sure," Carly said, but she didn't sound at all sure.

"Don't you think Billie would rather stay with your grandmother?" Bo suggested. Billie attending the wedding was one thing – sharing a house with her was another matter entirely.

"You really think Mom and her girlfriend will want to stay in Stefano Dimera's house? Are you kidding me? Besides, Mom hasn't exactly told Grandma about her and Santana." Chelsea was busily texting her mother and didn't look up at Bo. Receiving Billie's reply, Chelsea laughed out loud. "Mom says, 'Hell, no'. Look, if it's a problem for you, Dad, I'll get Mom and Santana a room at the Salem Inn. It's no big deal."

Bo's brow furrowed in bewilderment. "Why would Kate care who your mother is friends with?" Chelsea stared blankly at her father for a moment. Then it dawned on her that Bo didn't catch her meaning of the term girlfriend. Apparently none of the others did, either.

"Um, Dad, Mom is coming to the wedding because she really cares about both you and Carly. Santana is coming to Salem to personally fit Carly for her wedding dress, but she'll be attending the wedding as Mom's plus-one."

The others in the room caught onto what Chelsea was saying right away. Bo was a little slow on the up-take. "Plus-one?" Silence answered him.

Then it dawned on him. "Wait, you mean like a date?"

Chelsea nodded slowly.

"Your mother is a lesbian?"

Chelsea wanted to laugh at the expression on Bo's face. He looked almost…insulted. "That's pretty much what I meant by girlfriend, Dad. They've been friends for a year, but they've only been together for about six months."

At her father's astonished appearance, Chelsea continued, "Hey, at least you found out by word of mouth. I walked in on them. Damn near scarred me for life, I'll tell you. You and Dad aren't prone to doing it on the dining room table, are you?" She directed her question to Carly because Bo had checked out of the conversation. He was currently blinking rapidly, seemingly in a mild state of shock.

"Not usually, no," Carly answered dryly. "What with so many people running around the house at any given time, we try and confine ourselves to the bedroom."

"I'm going to pretend that I did not just hear that," Nick spoke up. "Could we move onto some other topic of discussion?"

"Yes, please!" Bo all but shouted. "Chels, it's fine for your mom and her…girlfriend to stay here. Just, um, yeah. Your mother is with a woman. I don't even know what to say to that."

"You don't have a problem with same-sex couples, do you?" Chelsea asked. She'd never considered her father to be homophobic, but people often didn't know what their true feelings were on a sensitive manner until personally affected by it.

"God, no!" Bo replied instantly. "It's not that at all, Chelsea. It just took me by surprise. If your mom is happy, then I'm happy for her, honestly. That's all I've ever wanted for her."

Chelsea could see that Bo's words were genuine so she relaxed. "She really is happy, Dad. You'll see what I mean when you see her with Santana. They just light each other up. Kind of like you and Carly," she added with a gentle smile.

"Okay, before we have to get Oprah in here for all this feel-good family stuff," said Phillip. "Are we agreed on July 10th for the big day? I'd like to go to bed before Nick and Carys feel the need to share details from their sex life."

Melanie and Carys, sitting on either side Phillip, whacked him simultaneously on the back of the head. "Ouch!" he protested.

"You deserved it," Melanie scolded.

"The 10th will be fine," said Carly.

"Good. Phillip, tomorrow you and Nick get to work on securing a minister. Carys, Chelsea and I will narrow down the list of venues and we'll compare notes tomorrow night. Chelsea, when will your mom and Santana be arriving?"

Chelsea checked her phone for her mother's latest message. "Some time Friday. Santana wants plenty of time to make sure the dress is perfect for Carly."

"Tell them I'll send the jet for them if they don't want to fly commercial," Nick offered.

"Thanks! They'd love that."

"Just let me know what time they want to leave London."

The kids continued to chat amongst themselves, while Carly and Bo observed them. Carly was trying to focus on all the positive things that she and Bo had going for them, but her mind kept turning back to Chelsea's comments about Shawn Douglas. She knew that Bo was trying to put on a brave face, but she feared that it was eating at Bo more than he let on.

"Hey, Princess," Bo whispered. "Are you ready for bed?"

Carly nodded and rose off Bo's lap so he could stand up. "We're turning in, you guys."

So many "good nights" were exchanged that Chelsea felt like she had stumbled into the middle of an episode of The Waltons. Still, it was a good feeling. Her dad leaned over and dropped a kiss on the top of her head.

"I'm glad you're here, honey," he told her.

"Me, too, Dad."

She watched as her father and Carly headed up the stairs, hand in hand. The love between them was real. What her mom and Santana had was the forever kind of love, too. Chelsea only hoped that one day she'd find her soulmate, too.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

The vibration of his cell phone woke Bo the next morning, far before the alarm clock had a chance to accomplish that task. Grabbing the phone and squinting in the early-morning light, he saw that he had a text message.

 _Coming into town tonight. Meet me at The Cheatin Heart at 7:00. You and I have to talk – Shawn_

Bo wasn't quite sure what to make of his son's message. But if he and Belle had been in Greece when Chelsea talked to him yesterday, then he had to have taken a plane in order to reach Salem today. Somehow Bo doubted it was because Shawn wanted to offer his congratulations.

Lying in bed next to Carly, who was still sleeping peacefully, Bo made the decision to meet his son alone. He knew Carly would balk at the idea, but Bo didn't want Shawn around Carly until he got a feel for his son's emotional state.

Shawn had been a little boy when Carly had left. He'd grown into a rebellious teenager and a troubled young man, only settling down when he learned the truth about Claire's parentage. Bo had shared all this with Carly, but he'd been keeping one important fact of Shawn's past behavior from her.

Bo had yet to tell her about how devastated Shawn had been when they all thought Carly had died. Their little sailor had been inconsolable over the loss of the woman who had been a mother to him for three years. Bo had been helpless to comfort his son, being such a wreck himself, and many nights they would lie together in Bo and Carly's bed on the boat, crying themselves to sleep.

When Shawn had learned that Carly was alive, he'd been ecstatic. Until Bo had to tell his son that Carly wouldn't be returning to her life with the two of them. When he realized that Carly was leaving Salem to be with Nicky, Shawn had clammed up and refused to even speak her name to anyone again. Bo, sympathetic to Shawn's feelings and nursing his own broken heart twice over, had quickly found that the pain was not as brutal if he, too, didn't think on or speak about Carly.

It would be better for all involved if he met Shawn alone tonight. He'd just have to convince Carly of that fact. He also knew that he'd have to come clean about how her leaving had affected Shawn. The only reason he'd kept it from her was to protect her. She'd been such a mess when she came to him that Bo didn't think she could bear any other burdens. Maybe once he talked with Shawn, man to man, he could convince his son to at least come and see Carly. But if Shawn was in one of his moods, Bo didn't want him anywhere near Carly.

Shawn had a quick temper that burned hot and black. He'd rage out his anger, sometimes without thought as to how it would hurt others. Carly had been on the receiving end of enough male violence at the hands of Lawrence Alamain, and judging by her reaction when Doug had grabbed her arm that day in the Pub, she was not going to take kindly to any further aggression. A defensive Carly against an angry Shawn would likely not end well.

The alarm clock sounded, putting an end to Bo's internal debate. He quickly silenced it. Carly didn't move; a fact which made Bo smile. He was grateful that her bout with all-day-long morning sickness seemed to have passed and that she was able to rest comfortably. He slid from their bed and went into the bathroom to shower.

He'd meet Carly for lunch, maybe at the park if it wasn't too hot. Then he'd tell her about Shawn. Once he explained to her his reasons for not wanting her to go with him, Bo thought he could make her understand. If things went well between him and Shawn, well, he'd just have to see how it played out. No point in getting ahead of himself.

Stepping from the shower, Bo quickly finished up his morning routine and walked back to the bedroom to get dressed. Carly was still sleeping, or so he thought. He had just pulled on his jeans when her arms slid around his waist. She kissed his tattoo and rested her head over the spot.

"Morning, baby," she whispered, sounding half asleep.

"Morning, Princess." Bo turned in her arms and gave her a proper good morning kiss.

"How did you sleep?" he inquired when they separated.

"Like the dead," she murmured against his chest. "I'm not sure I moved after my head hit the pillow. I think I'm going to stop by and see Anne this morning."

"What? Why? Are you all right?" Bo's hands went to the mound of her belly. "Are you hurting?"

"No, baby, it's okay. I'm fine," Carly rushed to reassure him. "I'm just so tired that I'm afraid my iron may be low. I don't want to wait until my appointment next week to have it checked."

"I'll come with you."

"No, I'll just stop by her office before my shift. The test is only a finger prick. It's no big deal."

"Are you sure?"

"Really, it's fine, I promise."

"Okay," Bo said. He pulled on the shirt he'd been holding, and Carly helped him button it.

"You know, I think I like it better when you unbutton my shirt."

"Me, too, but that wouldn't get us very far."

Bo glanced at the bed behind him and waggled his eyebrows at Carly, making her giggle.

"You're out of luck this morning." Then she kissed him again before heading to the bathroom to get ready for her own day. Freshly showered and make-up applied, she walked back into the bedroom to dress only to find it devoid of Bo. She chose a green knit dress that flirted somewhere around her knees. The material was butter soft and felt wonderful next to her skin. Maternity fashions had certainly come a long way.

Sliding her feet into brown sandals, Carly grabbed her bag and headed downstairs to wake Ciara and help her get ready. Ciara was sitting on the side of her bed blinking sleepily when Carly got to her room.

"You're already awake," she said.

"The sun was bright and it woke me up. You look pretty this morning, Mommy."

"Thank you, Munchkin," Carly sat down on the bed and tugged Ciara onto her lap. Ciara snuggled into her, and Carly inhaled the sweet scent of her little girl.

"Did you sleep well, baby?"

Ciara nodded. "No bad dreams."

"I'm glad. Now, what would you like to wear to school today?"

Ciara wrapped her arms around Carly's neck and asked, "Do I have to go to school today, Mommy? Can't I go to work with you?"

"Munchkin, you missed most of your school day yesterday. School is important and it's okay to miss sometimes, but you really don't need to miss two days in a row."

"But I want to spend the day with you again." Ciara pouted and Carly almost gave in. The kid was hard to resist when she turned on the puppy-dog eyes. _Too much like her daddy,_ Carly thought.

"Not today, Munchkin. But I'll make you a deal. Tonight, we'll read two stories instead of one. How does that sound?"

Ciara thought a moment and then held up her pinky. "Pinky promise?"

Carly obligingly hooked her pinky through Ciara's and gave their joined fingers a little shake. "I promise."

Smiling now, Ciara scampered to her closet and pointed to a green top, much the same shade as Carly's dress. "I want to wear that shirt, please, Mommy." Carly joined Ciara at the closet and removed the top from its hanger.

"How about these to go with it?" Carly held up a pair of striped capris. Ciara nodded and took the clothes from Carly. Ciara quickly dressed herself while Carly made up her bed. Then they sat down at Ciara's dresser so that Carly could fix her hair. In no time at all, Carly had Ciara's thick mane of hair secured into two French braids. She felt a quick twinge of regret over having missed these moments with Melanie, but she shoved the emotion back down. There was no need to dwell on what couldn't be changed. _You're going forward, Manning, not backward._

"Run and brush your teeth and then we'll go have breakfast." Ciara obediently went to her adjoining bathroom and returned a couple of minutes later. Carly handed Ciara her backpack and together they made their way to the kitchen.

Bo was gathered around the kitchen counter, surrounded by Chelsea, Carys and Melanie. Chelsea looked as though she'd much rather be in bed, but she was nonetheless listening intently to what her father was saying.

"So can you three handle all that?" Bo asked the trio of girls. They nodded, and Chelsea, who was facing the open doorway, saw Carly and Ciara coming and kicked her dad in the shin.

"Ow! Hey, what's the big idea?"

"We've got company," Chelsea said and the others swirled around to look. They hastily gathered up papers just as Carly and Ciara made it to the kitchen, a fact that did not go unnoticed by Carly.

"Don't worry, Bo," Melanie was saying. "We've got it covered."

"Thanks, girls." Then Bo scooped up Ciara and deposited her in one of the bar stools.

"Good morning, Little One," he said to his baby girl.

"Hi, Daddy. What are you doing?"

"Oh, your sisters and I were discussing something. They'll tell you about it later." He leaned down closer to Ciara and stage-whispered, "It's a surprise for Mommy so keep quiet about it, okay?"

Ciara's eyes lit up at surprise, and she whispered back just as loudly, "I won't tell Mommy."

Carly smiled at Bo and Ciara and made a big show of getting the little girl's breakfast together. Once Ciara was munching on toast and eggs, Carly filled her own plate. She took Bo's coffee cup from him and inhaled the rich aroma.

"Wanna try some this morning?" Bo asked, but Carly shook her head. Coffee seemed to be the only thing left that triggered her nausea. But just the smell of it made her feel somewhat better so she frequently seized random family members' and friends' coffee cups just to get her fix. Finished with her hit, she passed the cup back to Bo.

"Thanks, Baby. I needed that. Where are the boys?"

"Up and gone," Carys replied, wiping down the stove.

"Who's taking me to school?" Ciara asked.

"I'll take you," Melanie volunteered. "Let me grab my shoes. When I get back, the three of us can work on that…thing."

"Right, the…thing," Chelsea repeated. "I'm gonna go for a run while you're out."

"I'll do a bit of research on the…thing while I wait for you two," Carys said, already heading out of the kitchen behind Melanie and Chelsea. That left Bo, Carly and Ciara sitting at the bar.

Ciara sat between her parents, feet thumping rhythmically against the counter. Carly sipped her orange juice and stared at Bo out of the corner of her eye. "What are you planning, Mr. Brady?"

"Who, me?" Bo was the picture of innocence. "Nothing really, just a little surprise for my bride-to-be."

"Bo, you know I don't like surprises," Carly protested. Bo rose and carried his dishes to the sink without reply. Then he kissed the top of Ciara's head. "Bo, did you hear me?"

Pulling Carly from her stool, Bo drew her into his arms and fused their mouths together in a gentle yet thorough kiss. Just as Carly got lost in the sensation of Bo's lips on hers, Bo withdrew from the temptation of her mouth and smiled at the woman he loved. "Princess, you'll love this surprise." He kissed her quickly once more and dashed out the door to the garage, calling out over his shoulder, "I'll call you for lunch later! Bye, Little One!"

Shaking her head over her fiancé, Carly carried her own dishes to the sink just as Melanie came back to the kitchen. "Ready, Ciara?" Melanie asked.

"Yes. Bye, Mommy, I love you."

Carly crouched down to Ciara's level and hugged her. "I love you, too, Munchkin. Have a good day at school."

Once at the hospital, Carly headed straight for Anne's office to have her iron level checked. Anne ran the test after Carly voiced her concerns and instructed her lab to rush the results.

"I don't know how you're walking around, Carly," Anne said once the blood work was back. "Your iron was 32 last month and it's down to 21 today. Are you eating right?"

"Yes, I'm never sick any more, but I'm tired all the time. Some nights it's been a struggle just to sit up with the kids and talk. Is there any particular reason that there would be such a sharp drop?"

"Not really. The baby is obviously taking everything you have. So we'll just give you a little more to feed this ravenous kid you're carrying." Anne smiled and didn't seem too concerned so Carly relaxed, too.

"I want you to take an over-the-counter supplement called Slow FE. It's a little easier on the stomach and provides a steady stream of iron. I still want you to keep your appointment next week, and we'll check the levels again to see how the iron pills are working."

"Okay, thanks, Anne. By the way, Bo and I have set a date. We're getting married on July 10th, and I'd love it if you'd come."

"I wouldn't miss it for the world, Carly. Where and what time?"

"I don't actually know yet," Carly replied laughing. She then told Anne about Chelsea's arrival and the kids' plans for her and Bo. "So we're waiting on them to tell us the details. I'll make sure one of them gets in touch with you."

"I think that's about the sweetest thing I've heard. Your children must love you and Bo very much to go to such great lengths to see the two of you happy."

"Anne, sometimes I think this is all a dream and that I'll wake up next to Lawrence, trapped in the hell that my life had become. I just don't know what I did to get so lucky."

"You deserve it, Carly," Anne said, knowing what her friend had gone through. "I'm so happy for you and for Bo."

"Thanks, Anne, you're a very good friend."

"So are you. I've missed you all these years, and I'm so glad that I took the job here in Salem. You were the best friend I ever had, Carly."

Carly dabbed at her eyes which were beginning to tear up. "Damn it, Anne. Don't make me cry! You know I love you, and I'm so grateful you're here to take care of me."

"All right, all right," Anne scoffed, though she was crying as well. "Look at us! Two grown women blubbering like a couple of teenage girls. Come on, Manning, get yourself together."

"Me? You're as much of a wreck as I am, Snow."

"Okay, enough is enough. Get out of here. Go get your pills and take one before you fall out in the operating room."

"Yes ma'am. I'll see you later." The two shared a brief hug, and Carly left the office in search of her much-needed iron pills. Just getting herself and Ciara ready this morning had taken nearly every ounce of strength she'd had.

She spent the morning reviewing case files and checking on patients. Bo, rather than calling her for lunch, showed up at noon to collect her in person. "What did Anne say?"

"My iron was low, just like I thought. I'm taking a supplement, and she'll check my blood again at my regular appointment next week. So stop fussing over me."

"Right, you like my fussing."

"Well, maybe just a little," Carly replied with a smile. She looped her arm through Bo's and let him lead her to the elevators. "What are you feeding us? Your child and I are starving."

"I thought about the park, but it's a little warmer than I thought it would be. Want to go to _Taziki's_? We could eat on their patio." _Taziki's_ was a little Greek restaurant located next to the hospital, and it had quickly become a favorite of theirs.

Carly's eyes glazed over at the lure of a Greek chicken salad. "That sounds divine."

The restaurant was crowded, but the hostess showed them to a table out on the patio and automatically brought Carly water with lemon and Bo, an iced tea. Perhaps they frequented this place a little too often. They gave their orders to their server who brought them out in just a few minutes. That was one of the reasons the little café did so well with the hospital crowd – it was good food and the service was speedy.

"So are you gonna tell me what's bothering you?" Carly asked as she poured dressing on her salad.

"Nothing's bothering me," Bo shot back, stuffing extra slaw inside his pita.

Carly laid her fork on her plate and leveled a gaze at Bo. "I know you like the back of my hand, Bo Brady, and something is eating at you. What gives?"

Bo sighed, knowing he couldn't delay telling Carly about Shawn any longer. He showed her the text message and told her how he wanted to meet him alone. To his astonishment, Carly agreed with him.

"Bo, the last person that Shawn needs to see right now is me. I imagine he's fairly angry with the both of us, and though I hate for you to have to face all that anger alone, I really think I'd just make things worse."

"You sure keep me on my toes, Princess. I figured I'd have to handcuff you to the bed to keep you at home."

"Well, you don't have to handcuff me to keep me in bed, baby, but if it tickles your fancy…" Leaving the rest of her thought unspoken, Carly went back to innocently eating her salad, knowing that Bo was now imagining her in just such a position.

"You are evil, woman," Bo said, taking a long drink of his iced tea.

"You brought up the cuffs," Carly casually remarked.

"You're bringing up other things, and we're in public," Bo all but growled.

Dark lashes fluttered coyly at him and Carly said, "I'll behave…for now."

"Back to what we were discussing," Bo said, though he'd really rather continue down the path Carly had led them to. "What should I say to Shawn?"

Carly shrugged. "I think you're going to have to let him do the talking, at least at first. And take it from a parent who has loads of experience dealing with an irate child – you probably won't like what he has to say at all."

"I'm not going to let him trash you, Princess. I won't put up with anyone bad-mouthing you, especially my own son."

"Baby, that's very noble of you, and I appreciate it, but…"

"But you think I should just let him rant."

"I do. Look, he's been gone a while, right? When he left town his parents were together. Then he finds out that they've gotten divorced, his mother has given up his sister and left town, and his father is engaged and expecting another baby. That's a lot for a kid to take in."

"Shawn is not a kid, Carly. He's a grown man, a husband and a father. He needs to accept that the world doesn't revolve around him."

"It's still a lot to swallow about your parents, no matter how old you are. Please, promise me that you'll listen to him at first. Maybe he'll surprise you."

"You always look for the good in people, Princess. That's one of the things I love the most about you. You're always giving people the benefit of the doubt, even when they've hurt you."

"Well, Shawn hasn't hurt me." _Not yet, anyway_. "And no matter what, I'll always see him as the little boy who stole my heart, right along with his father."

"He hasn't been that little boy for a long time, Princess. I don't want your expectations to be too high."

"Look, we have so many people behind us. We have Ciara and this baby and our other children. Look at how far we've come, Bo. We can survive anything as long as we're together."

Bo leaned over and kissed Carly, wanting to show her and everyone else on the patio of Taziki's just how amazingly wonderful she was and how much he loved her. Then putting aside thoughts of anything unpleasant, they finished their meal.


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

While Bo and Carly were having lunch, Chelsea, Melanie and Carys were hiking through the woods outside of Salem, in search of Bo's surprise for Carly. They had found the road Bo had told them about with no trouble. Trouble had come in the form of a large pine tree across the road, effectively blocking their progress via car.

Abandoning the car at the foot of the hill, they had trekked around the ruins of the tree and discovered even more trees that had fallen as they made their way up the little narrow lane. At some point, the road had disappeared altogether, swallowed back up by the surrounding forest.

"Whose idea was this again?" Chelsea asked. She sidestepped an ant hill and pushed aside yet another branch.

"Your father's," Carys reminded her. She swatted at the branch Chelsea had just pushed aside.

"Are either of you sure we're going the right way?" Melanie asked. She loved her mother and wanted to help Bo, but she hadn't realized she was signing on for Survivor: Salem.

"I think so," Chelsea answered. She paused to study the map her father had given them. If Chelsea were honest, the "map" more closely resembled one of Ciara's art projects than it did an atlas for locating Bo's long-lost cabin. Between her dad's lousy handwriting and his complete lack of artistic ability, they were just as likely to wind up in Vermont as they were their intended destination.

Carys, not noticing that Chelsea had stopped, ran into Chelsea's back. Melanie quickly joined the pile-up, sending all three girls sprawling onto the forest floor. Chelsea, being on the bottom, absorbed the majority of the impact and lifted her head from the ground, spitting out a mouthful of dirt. Melanie rolled off of Carys and onto her hands and knees, pushing her hair out of her eyes. What she wouldn't give for a rubber band at the moment.

Carys flopped onto her back a moment before getting up. Something caught her eye as she rose, and she took a couple of steps forward and stumbled into a clearing. The clearing contained a small, rustic cabin. It had to be the right one.

"We found it!" Carys shouted excitedly. Forgetting their fall, Melanie and Chelsea sprang up and ran to stand on either side of Carys.

"I think you're right. This has got to be it. We passed the little pond that Dad said was on the property. This must be the place."

The girls moved to the front of the cabin, and Melanie tried the door. It swung open with a _creek_! and she cautiously stepped over the threshold. The sunlight spilling in the open door illuminated the interior enough that Melanie could make out the curtains that were covering the two windows. She moved to one and ripped off the ratty canvas material.

The motion dispelled a plume of dust, making all three girls sneeze and their eyes, water. "We're going to need a tank full of Pledge," Chelsea commented as she pulled the curtain down from the other window.

With more light to guide them, the girls took in the wood-burning stove and fire place. The only furniture was a little table and chairs and a bed. When Bo had told them this morning that he'd wanted to bring Carly to the cabin on their wedding night, Melanie had been skeptical. But then Bo had told them that the cabin was the place where he first professed his love to Carly. That had been enough to sell Melanie on the idea.

Her job, along with Chelsea and Carys, was to make the cabin presentable and habitable, all without Carly catching on. Bo planned on blindfolding her before bringing her to the cabin. He had told the girls he didn't want Carly to know where they were going until they arrived at the cabin. Considering the layers of dust, debris and detritus that covered nearly every inch of the interior of the little cabin, they had their work cut out for them.

"Right, then," Carys said. "Let's take stock of what we have, shall we? The stove looks functional, but it will definitely need a good cleaning." Carys moved to the table and chairs and rattled them a bit, testing them for stability. "These seem all right, too."

Chelsea had moved to the bed and gingerly lifted the corner of the moth-eaten bed spread. "This is not all right," she said, nose wrinkling in disgust.

"Gross!" Melanie exclaimed when a closer inspection revealed mouse droppings, dead bugs and the remains of various and sundry other forms of Salem wildlife that had used the bedclothes at one point or another. "Burn it. Hurry!"

Carys rolled her eyes at both of them and pulled all the linens off the bed. Another cloud of dust erupted, but Carys wanted to see what the bed frame itself looked like. Underneath the neglected coverings, the mattress was amazingly clean…well, clean when regarded next to the other objects in the cabin. Carefully, Carys sat down on the mattress and promptly sank into it. Chelsea and Melanie grabbed her hands and pulled her up.

"I'm thinking new mattress," Melanie said, laughing.

"Without a doubt. But what about the bedframe?" Chelsea asked. It was wrought iron so it looked sturdy, but God knew how long it had been in the cabin.

"What about it?" Melanie asked.

"Well, we don't want the bed to collapse with the two of them, do we?" Carys pointed out.

"What? Eww!" was Melanie's response. "That's my mother you're talking about!"

Chelsea and Carys dissolved into laughter over Melanie's expression. "It's my father, but since the both of us are standing here, I'm pretty sure neither of our parents is a blushing virgin."

"Still, how in the hell are we supposed to decide if the bed is sturdy enough for…that. I love my mother, but there are limits, you know?"

They thought for a moment, staring at the bed and tilting their heads this way and that. Finally Chelsea suggested that they drag the mattress and box springs outside. It would be a nasty job, but then they could really inspect the bed frame.

The mattress was stuffed with feathers, or so Carys thought, and it was heavy. However, the fact that it folded like a taco made it easier to push out the door and into the yard. Dragging the thing across the floor also had the effect of sweeping most of the leaves and dirt out the door as well. A win, win, as far as the girls were concerned. The box springs weren't as heavy, but were still cumbersome. They were all sweating and panting by the time they were done.

Going back into the cabin, they stood on either side of the bed, and for lack of any other ideas, began to vigorously shake the bed frame from side to side as hard as their combined strengths would allow. After a few minutes, Carys released her hold on the frame and signaled for the others to stop. "I think the frame can withstand the wedding night."

Carys made a turn-about around the room, and noticed a little door off to the side. "What's this? The WC?"

"WC?" Melanie sounded confused.

"Bathroom," Chelsea supplied. "WC stands for water closet."

"Whatever," Melanie mumbled. Carys had gone over to the door and was pulling on it, trying to open it.

"It's stuck," she said unnecessarily. Carys gave another tug, though, and the door suddenly swung open. "Oh, would you look at this tub? It's gorgeous!"

A claw-foot bathtub sat against one wall of the little room, which included a free-standing sink and a toilet. "It will need a good scouring, but look at the carvings on the feet. I love it!" Carys crouched down to get a better look at the tub's feet which were inlaid with gold-etched flowers and leaves. "This was done by hand. Someone cared a great deal about this bathtub."

Chelsea reached over and turned the handle, not really expecting water, but thinking it was worth a shot. A series of groans and rattles emanated from the pipes within the walls, and Chelsea turned the handle in the other direction.

"Did we just kill something?" Melanie asked, eyes wide. "Because that's what it sounded like."

"Obviously no one has paid the water bill around here lately. We'll have to see what we can do about that," Carys said.

"Let's make a list of the things we'll need to get this place ready," Melanie said. Carys pulled a notebook from the backpack she had been lugging, and also took out three bottles of water. They fell on the water, each polishing off a bottle in a matter of seconds.

"I didn't realize how thirsty I was," Chelsea commented.

"Me, neither, Carys you think of everything."

"It's years of experience running round after your brother. He wouldn't remember his own head if it weren't attached to his body. I've also got some apples in here, too, and some more water."

"We're going to need a broom and a mop," Chelsea said, scuffing her sneaker against the rough wooden floor.

"We'll need a cleaner for the wood floor, too, and plenty of rags and Pledge. I think some Chlorox wouldn't come amiss, either." Carys listed her own suggestions on the paper.

"How about garbage bags? We could stuff these old bed clothes and curtains in them. That would seal up some of the dust and make it easier to cart them out."

"Good idea, Mel. Carys, will we need to bring anything in the way of kitchen utensils, pots, pans, that sort of thing?"

"I wouldn't cook with any of this stuff," Melanie remarked. "Even if we washed it."

"I'm still working on a menu, but I'll make certain to bring anything they'll need to heat up the food. Now, we know we need a mattress and box springs, plus plenty of linens. I also think we need a small chest or something in the bathroom for towels and the like."

The girls finished making their list, adding things as they popped into their minds. Satisfied at last, Carys looked at her watch and saw it was coming on 3:00. "We should be getting back. It's almost time to pick up Ciara from school. We all need showers, and I want us to go over this with Nick and Phillip. We're going to need their help, too."

"Um, I'm pretty sure neither of them has ever so much as taken out the trash," said Chelsea.

"True, but they've got the clout to get things moving with the water works and with the state highway department. Unless Bo is planning on hauling Carly up here over his shoulder, we'll need to get that road cleared. I think the names Alamain and Kiriakis will go a long way to getting those tasks accomplished."

"Point taken," Chelsea conceded. "Okay, ladies, let's head back. At least the trip back will be mostly downhill."

The girls picked up Ciara from school, who, upon taking in their appearance, wanted to know what they had been doing.

"Remember the surprise that Daddy said he was getting ready for Mommy?" Chelsea asked, and Ciara's head bobbed up and down vigorously. "The surprise is a place, and Daddy wants us to get it all cleaned up and ready for him to take Mommy to."

"It must be really dirty," Ciara said. "You guys look yucky!"

Considering that they were covered in filth and grime, Carys had leaves in her hair, Melanie's hair was plastered to her head from sweat and Chelsea's jeans were ripped on one knee thanks to the fall, yucky was probably an understatement.

"It is pretty bad, Munchkin," Melanie agreed. "But we're all going to work together to get it ready for them."

"Can I help?"

"Sure, you can," Carys promised. "But the best way to help us is to not say anything to your mummy about it. Your daddy will want her to be very surprised when he takes her to the special place."

"I promise. I won't say anything to Mommy, not a word."

Melanie brought the car to a stop in the circular driveway of the house, and they all piled out of the car. She volunteered to watch Ciara while Carys and Chelsea took showers. "I'll call Phillip, too, so he and Nick can get to work on their part."

Melanie gave Ciara a snack while waiting on Phillip to answer his phone.

"Hey, Beautiful!" was his greeting.

"Hey, back. Listen, we went to the cabin and it's horrendous." She gave Phillip a run-down on the state of things. "There's no way that Mom and Bo can stay there if we don't give it a major overhaul."

"What do you want me to do?"

"We figured you could get someone with the highway department to get the road cleared and get someone from the water works…"

"Say no more, Mel. Nick and I'll handle that part. Let me make some calls and I'll let you know what I find out when I get home."

"Okay, I love you, Phillip."

"I love you, too, Mel."

Melanie ended the call and took a bottle of water from the fridge. The afternoon had really taken it out of her. She greedily gulped down half the contents before sitting down next to Ciara at the bar. The little girl had finished her snack and now sat staring at the counter.

"What's wrong, Ciara?"

Tiny shoulders lifting and dropping was the only response Melanie got.

"You can tell me," Melanie gently nudged her. "We're sisters, right?"

Ciara finally turned to look at Melanie, unshed tears in her eyes. "Why are Mommy and Daddy going away?" Ciara's chin began to quiver and Melanie wasn't quite sure what to think.

"Huh? They aren't…wait, why do you think they're going away?"

"You told Uncle Phillip that we had to fix the cabin so Mommy and Daddy could stay in it. Why don't they want to live here anymore? Is it me? Did I do something bad?"

"Oh, no, Munchkin!" Melanie slid off her stool and put her arms around Ciara. "You misunderstood me. Daddy and Mommy aren't going away, honey. But when they get married, they're going to spend a couple of days together, just the two of them. That's why we're getting the cabin fixed up for them. But they're going to come back home, I promise."

Ciara lifted her head from Melanie's chest. "Mommy and Daddy really aren't going away forever?"

"No, sweetie, it's only for a couple of days. Then they'll be home with us, okay. Please don't be upset, Ciara." Melanie couldn't stand when Ciara cried. It made her want to weep, too.

Ciara wanted to believe what Melanie was saying, but she was so scared that if her daddy and mommy left her, that they wouldn't come back. Her old mommy had decided she didn't want Ciara to be her little girl any longer. What if Daddy and Mommy decided the same thing? She decided to ask Melanie.

"Ciara, I want you to listen to me very carefully, all right?" At Ciara's nod, Melanie continued, "Mommy and Daddy love you very much. They love all of us, and we love them. We love you, too. No one in this house will ever leave you or decide they don't want you. Do you understand?" Tears streamed down Melanie's cheeks as Ciara wrapped her skinny arms around Melanie's neck.

She felt Ciara nod against her shoulder and heard her whisper, "I love you, too, Sissy Melanie." As Melanie held the little girl in her arms who was, in every way that mattered, her baby sister, she vowed to protect her and love her come what may. _And so help me, if I ever see Hope Brady again, I will kick her scrawny ass from here to Springfield!_


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

Matt Thomas had been the bartender at _The Cheatin' Heart_ for a little more than six years. He'd seen, at one point or another, just about every citizen of Salem come through the doors of the bar. If he wanted to forego his career as a bartender, he'd often thought he could make a very sweet living as a gossip columnist. For who was better suited to know the secrets of a town than the man who kept it in drink?

For instance, he knew that the man at the back corner table was cheating on his wife – with her brother. The heavy-set, twenty-something blonde at the end of the bar nursing a Long Island Iced Tea was an easy mark and would be flat on her back by midnight. She was in the _Heart_ a couple of times a week, and she always left with a different loser. A group of college kids out on summer break from Salem University was gathered around one of the pool tables. They were fairly manageable at the moment, but he'd have to keep an eye on them. He'd tossed them out on their collective asses a few weeks for starting a brawl.

All of these were regulars. What really interested Matt were the souls who occasionally happened by. They always had the most fascinating stories, and because they didn't know Matt very well, he sometimes had to work harder to get to the good stuff. A couple had just come in that Matt hadn't seen in months, and during their last encounter, both had been wrapped around other partners. And he was pretty certain that the straight-laced businessman, currently chatting up the chunky blonde, had a pregnant wife at home.

But the most surprising appearance of the night came in the form of the police commissioner. Bo Brady was not what Matt would consider a "regular." Regardless of the fact that Matt rarely served the Commissioner of Police a drink, he was nonetheless aware of Brady's history, not to mention, his current activities.

 _Talk about an effin' soap opera_ , Matt mused. _The poor guy thinks his wife is dead and finally moves on with the new doctor in town. Then the good doctor hauls ass out of Salem with her former lover and their son. Brady moved on again, only to be upended when the dead wife turned out to be not so dead._

When Matt first heard the part about the wife returning from the dead, he'd immediately cut off the schmuck telling the story. As far as Matt had been aware at the time - unless the deceased was a religious figure or a vampire - dead people generally stayed dead. Of course, that had been when Matt had first moved to Salem. He'd since learned that quite a few townspeople had been found very much alive after having been declared dead.

Matt had also heard through the grapevine that the wife had taken off with their kid not too long ago and that while she was gone, Brady had moved in the second chick – the doctor – who had resurfaced, on the run for murdering her husband. The current talk around town was that Brady and the doctor were holed up in a love nest on the outskirts of town, engaged and expecting a baby. Matt had to give Bo Brady props. For a man the commissioner's age, the guy sure still knew how to lay it down.

Matt had seen both the wife and the doctor – they'd actually been at the bar one afternoon at the same time – and neither were hard on the eyes. Though Matt did admit to leaning more towards the alluring doctor; he liked a woman with a little meat on her bones, and Brady's wife could definitely use an extra meal or two.

The question haunting Matt now as he doled out shots and opened beer bottles was what brought Bo Brady to the _Heart_ tonight? The guy didn't look happy, but he wasn't exactly knocking 'em back, either, as men will do when they were trying to forget about a particularly sticky problem. He was still on his first beer, a Bud Light, and alternately checking his watch and the door every few seconds. _Definitely waiting for someone_ , Matt thought, _but whom_?

The married jerk working over the blonde signaled Matt for another round, so Matt missed the entrance of a brooding young man. Shawn Douglas Brady spotted his father immediately and started towards him. Bo stood to meet his son, only to take a right hook to the jaw by way of a greeting.

The sound of fist striking flesh and bone caught the attention of every other bar patron, and there was only a momentary pause before fingers began flying over the keys of cell phones as everyone spread the news that their police commissioner had just been punched in the face by a man that some of them recognized as Brady's own son.

Ignoring the crowd around them, Bo quelled his first instinct to knock Shawn on his ass in retaliation. Rubbing his jaw where the kid had landed – Bo had to admit – one hell of a sucker punch, Bo sat back down on his bar stool and indicated Shawn should do the same. Bo's reaction, or lack thereof, seemed to take some of the fire out Shawn, and he dropped onto the empty stool beside his father. Matt was ready and waiting when Shawn Brady asked for a Guiness and a shot of Jim Beam. Matt poured the beer and set both it and the shot glass in front of the bar's newest patron.

Getting rid of the shot first, Shawn motioned for another and began drinking his beer. He drank half and took another shot before turning back to face his father. "What the hell did you do to my mother?"

"Hello to you, too, son," Bo said sarcastically. "How are you? How're Belle and my granddaughter?"

Shawn's mouth turned up in a grimace. "We aren't here to talk about my wife, Dad. We're here to talk about yours."

"Your mother is no longer my wife, Shawn. We're divorced."

"Yeah, because you took up with that murdering whore, Carly, and drove my mother away!"

Bo shifted in his seat, trying to hold onto his temper. Carly would never forgive him if he beat the shit out of Shawn, no matter how badly his son might need it. "Let's get something straight. I will answer any of your questions as they pertain to your mother and me. But I will not allow you to attack Carly. Just because you're pissed at me, it doesn't give you a license to slander her. You leave her out of it. Are we clear?"

"Leave her out of it? This whole, goddamn mess is her fault! I mean, Mom's gone barely five minutes and you move your ex-fiance into Mom's house? What the hell were you thinking? How could you do it, Dad? You know how sensitive Mom is about the other women in your past. You knew that Mom was hurting because of Ciara's kidnapping. That's why she left you and moved in with Granddad. And you don't even let the bed get cold before you move on with some slut."

Shawn's eyes, so like his mother's, gleamed with righteous indignation, fully expecting that his father would now take a swing at him. In Shawn's mind this would justify going on a complete bender and really doing some damage to avenge his mother. But once again, Shawn watched as Bo reigned in his temper. Taking a long drink of his beer, Bo leaned very close to Shawn's face. He wanted to be sure his son heard every word that he had to say.

"I warned you once. I'm going to let that last remark slide. But if you say anything derogatory about Carly again, this conversation is over, and I will not hesitate to put you on the floor. Do you understand me, Son? I love you, Shawn, but I will not let you come in here and pitch a fit like a two-year-old just because you aren't getting your way."

Shawn blinked. He believed every word that had come out of his dad's mouth. His father had never taken this hard of a stance with any of his past antics. He was sorely tempted to punch his father again and start tearing up the bar, just to get out some of the anger that was eating him alive inside. Any other time, his father would have moved heaven and earth to placate both Shawn and his mother. Despite the fury churning like a hurricane within his chest, Shawn couldn't help but wonder what had changed about his father. And the change intrigued him.

"What happened, Dad?" Shawn was much quieter now. "You and mom have had problems before. But no matter what, you always went after her and worked them out. Why now? What's different this time?"

Bo sighed heavily, not certain how much he should divulge to his son. Deciding that maybe Shawn had been coddled enough in his lifetime, Bo went with the truth. "Your mom took Ciara and moved to Victor's, I begged her to come home. Yes, Carly did turn up later that night. She needed help, son. She was running from Vivian Alamain, and she was trying to get to Salem to protect her daughter. Chelsea said she told you all this, right?"

Shawn nodded gruffly. "Carly needed your help. I get that, Dad, I do. You help people. I know that. But why did you have to help Carly at my mother's expense?"

"Your mom and I had been on the rocks for a long time, Shawn. We've had problems for years. You said it yourself a minute ago. I always did whatever I had to in order to make your mom happy. But you know what, Son? You can't make someone else happy. They have to be happy with themselves. And your mom hasn't been, not for a long time."

"Since Zach, you mean," Shawn said, and Bo nodded sadly.

"And this time, when I chased after your mom, well, at some point I just got tired of running. Your mom wanted to blame everything on Carly, instead of facing our real problems."

Shawn bristled at the mention of Carly's name. "But, Dad, don't you see? If you hadn't been so wrapped up in Carly's problems, you would have been able to see things from Mom's perspective. How do think it made her feel, when she needed you to be there for her, and you were too busy holding Carly's hand?"

"Shawn, your mother is a grown woman. And every time I tried to talk with her, she shut me down. Now I've done this song and dance with damn near every other person in this town, and I'm getting sick and tired of it, so listen. Carly had nothing to do with my problems with your mother. We were doomed, one way or another. But I lost Carly once, and I'm not going to let her slip away again. Letting her get on that plane seventeen years ago was the biggest mistake of my life and the biggest regret of hers. You have no idea, no concept, of the hell she went through as Lawrence Alamain's wife…"

Here Bo lost it and began to weep. Shawn couldn't believe his eyes. He'd seen his father cry very few times and never in public. Yet, here they sat in the middle of the _Cheatin' Heart_ , and his father was unable to stop the tears that slipped down his cheeks. After a few seconds, Bo got himself under control and drank the shot of whisky that Matt had silently laid in front of him.

"Look, my point is, Carly and I both realized that the love we felt for one another never really died. We both lost a lot and paid a heavy price because we didn't follow our hearts seventeen years ago. We won't make the same mistake twice."

"So that's it. You and Mom are divorced, Mom gave up Ciara and left town, but I'm just supposed to accept it because you and Carly Manning are fucking happy together?" Shawn's temper was back in full swing, and every other person in the bar heard his last statement loud and clear.

"Are you listening to yourself? Have you lost your mind? My mother is gone! She abandoned my little sister, and I can't get in touch with her. I haven't heard from her. Neither have Grandpa or Julie. She could be dead in a ditch for all we know, but we should just all get over it because you and Carly are getting what you want. I don't even know what to say to that."

"Shawn, I don't expect anything from you or anyone else. I'm trying to tell you the facts. I don't love your mother. Our marriage is over. She made the decision to leave me and take Ciara. She and I discussed our marriage and agreed that it was best to end things. She was perfectly fine with it. She had the papers drawn up and I signed them.

"I told her I was going to marry Carly and that we were having a baby. Then your mother made the decision on her own to sign over custody of Ciara to me. Neither Justin nor your grandparents could stop her. It was her choice. And before she left, she scared your little sister so badly that Ciara still has nightmares about it.

"Ciara loves Carly and calls her 'Mommy.' She thinks of Nick and Melanie as her brother and sister, and she's beside herself about the baby. She's thriving in our home, and we aren't going to let anyone interfere with that. I'll tell you the same thing that I've told everyone else. You are welcome to see and talk to Ciara any time you want. But if you upset her or try and discredit Carly or me in any way, then I will not put up with it.

"By the way, I'm getting married on Saturday. If you manage to pull your head out of your ass, Carly and I would love to have you and Belle and Claire with us. And in case you care about anyone other than yourself, your newest brother or sister is due on November 9th." Having said his peace, Bo turned away from his son and began systematically finishing off his beer.

Shawn's mind was running ninety to nothing, trying to process all his father had told him. Some of what Bo had said made sense, Shawn had to admit, but he wasn't ready just yet to abandon his defense of his mother. Right now, he needed to get away so he could think. He pulled a $20 from his pocket and laid it on the bar. He rose from the stool and stopped next to his father.

"Look, I'm…I gotta go. I'll…be in touch." With that Shawn took off out the door. Bo sat for another few minutes, no longer feeling the eyes of the other customers in the bar on him. Once it became apparent that no further blows would be exchanged, the crowd had lost interest. Laying cash on the bar to cover his own tab, Bo quickly made an exit. He only wanted to get home to Carly.

Carly slipped out of Ciara's room, her lower back thanking her for finally moving again. Carly wasn't certain what had been bothering Ciara tonight, only that something was troubling her little girl. From the moment she had gotten home from work, Ciara had stuck to her like glue, wanting to sit in her lap or hold her hand. Ciara normally went to right to sleep after a story, but tonight she'd begged Carly to stay with her until she fell asleep.

Unable to deny Ciara anything, Carly had held her until she had finally drifted off in her arms. _Not a minute too soon, either,_ Carly thought as she rubbed at the protesting muscles of her lower back. She'd been lying sort of on her side to accommodate Ciara, and the baby and her back were making her pay for it. Still, it had been worth it when Ciara had relaxed in sleep, a serene expression on her tiny face.

Walking across the living room to head to her own bedroom, Carly met Bo coming from the kitchen. Bo headed straight for her, crushing her body to him in a bruising kiss that had her forgetting her backache. "Welcome home, baby," she said when they separated.

"God, I missed you," Bo confessed. He nuzzled her neck, just behind her ear where her scent was the strongest. Breathing her in calmed his nerves.

"You've only been gone a few hours." Carly hadn't really expected the meeting with Shawn to go well, but she was beginning to fear that it had been terrible. Then she noticed the bruise that was forming on Bo's jaw. "What happened?"

"My son punched me," Bo said, not bothering to hide the truth. He could never keep anything from Carly for long.

"What? Why? Because of me, of us?" Carly was furious now.

"Settle down, Princess," Bo told her. He took her hand and began leading her in the direction of the stairs. "I'll tell you everything. I just want to lie down and hold you first."

They went about the process of getting ready for bed, Bo electing to take a quick shower to wash off the smell of the barroom. Once in bed, with Carly in his arms, Bo told her all that had passed between Shawn and him.

"I just wish I knew what to do to make things better," Carly said when he was finished.

"I think we just have to give him time. He'll come around or he won't, but we aren't going to let him dictate how we live our lives."

"But he's your son."

"He'll still be my son, but it's his choice, Princess. He'll have to come to us. Just like Nick and Melanie had to come to their own decisions to be a part of your life, Shawn will have to make the same choice. We can't force him."

Wanting to change the subject, Bo began rubbing circles on her belly. The child within flipped lazily in its aquatic home, the movements becoming more and more defined for Carly. Bo had yet to feel their child's movements. Carly figured it would only be a couple of more weeks before Bo could experience the baby's kicks, too. "Ciara must have been late going to bed tonight. And why is it so quiet? Where is everybody else?"

"The kids all went out for the evening. They wouldn't tell me where so I think it must have been something for the wedding. Ciara was a little clingy tonight, that's all. She wanted me to stay with her until she fell asleep."

"Thank you for loving my daughter," Bo whispered.

"Thank you for letting me love her."

Then they turned to one another, seeking the comfort that only the other could provide.

The next morning, Bo and Carly dropped Ciara off at school together. Ciara, pleased to be at the center of her parents' attention, failed to pick up on the air of apprehension between them. Bo had received another text from Shawn in the middle of the night, requesting that both Bo and Carly meet him at the pier at 8:00.

Shawn was waiting on them when they arrived. Seeing Carly face to face for the first time since he was a boy, Shawn was transported back in time to his childhood. She looked the same, pregnant belly notwithstanding; Christ, she even smelled the same, as a passing breeze carried the scent of her perfume to him.

Also unchanged was the connection between his father and Carly. He'd been aware of it as a kid, but his child's view of the world had been unable to recognize it for what it was. He knew it now, knew what a woman could do for a man, and he, for her. The link between the two people standing before him pulsed like a live wire. They were doing nothing more than holding hands; they weren't even looking at one another. But it was there, all the same. And no matter how much he raged to his dad about his mom, Shawn knew that nothing on earth would separate his father and Carly.

Still, he couldn't just roll over and pretend to be all right with his father's behavior. And that was why he'd asked them to meet him.

"I'm heading back to Greece this morning. My flight leaves in a couple of hours."

"I guess you've made your choice," Bo said, not surprised that Shawn wasn't sticking around.

"Look, I just can't deal with this right now. It's too much. I need to find Mom. I want to talk to her. I'm worried about her, and I just can't come to your wedding and act like we're one big, happy family. Maybe after I see Mom, after I've had some time to think things over, maybe Belle and I will bring Claire for a visit. But I'm not promising anything. I don't know if I'll ever get to the point that I can accept you, Carly, I'm not going to lie. I know that Dad said you didn't come here to break up Mom and him, and maybe you didn't. But they're divorced, you're marrying my dad and you've adopted my kid sister. Nowhere in my world does any of that make sense."

"I understand how you must feel about me, Shawn," Carly said. "And I don't blame you. But I do hope that you won't hold it against your dad and Ciara. They both love you very much, and all I want is for you to be a part of their lives."

"I don't really care much about what you want right now, Carly." Shawn didn't shout out the words, though he very much wanted to. He was torn, seeing this woman again who had been a mother to him. Things were starting to get mixed up again in his brain, and he knew he'd better split before the conversation went south. Taking a deep breath, seeing the pain in her eyes and the anger in his father's, Shawn tried again.

"Look, I'm going now. I'll be in touch when I can, if I can. I just, I need some time."

"Do what you need to do," Bo said, but then felt the need to add, "No matter what, you're my son and I will always love you."

"I love you, too, Dad. I just don't like you very much right now." Shawn nodded to Carly and with one last look at his father, he turned on his heel and headed up the stairs of the pier.

Bo and Carly watched him go. Then Bo turned to Carly. He kissed her, needing to touch more than just her hand. Pulling away, he sensed that she wanted to talk about Shawn, but Bo laid his finger against her lips and shook his head.

"Not right now." He touched her belly, loving the feel of their child growing within her womb. "Let's get you to work, Princess." Together, as they would face any obstacle in their path, they walked back to the car.


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

The tiny hamlet of Brookwood lay thirty miles east of Salem. Picturesque and quaint, downtown Brookwood was a strip of newly restored brick-front buildings nestled along the riverfront. The largest and most grand of the buildings was the _Tutwiler Hotel._ Though small by today's standards, the Hotel offered old-world charm intricately woven with all the modern conveniences. Each of its 100 rooms was individually decorated, and the Hotel was booked solid throughout the majority of the year.

Room 87 was occupied by only one guest. But the bitterness and anger that the woman carried within her filled the spacious suite to capacity. Shaking hands popped open several different prescription bottles and carefully extracted one pill from each container. The woman dropped them onto the floral bedspread. Refilling her tumbler with a healthy dollop of _Glenfiddich_ , she popped the little mountain of pills into her mouth, chasing them with the amber liquid in one shot.

Hope Brady poured another serving of scotch and sipped it more slowly this time as she studied the pictures scattered around her on the bed. The faces were beginning to blur a bit, but it didn't matter. The images were scorched into every neuron of her brain. She'd never be able to extract them from her memory if she lived a thousand lifetimes.

Bo leaving the police station.

Bo and Carly having lunch in the park, Bo's hand frozen in time on the barely-there bump of Carly's pregnant belly.

Ciara on the playground of her school.

Carly, Melanie, Ciara and Carys exiting a maternity store at Salem Place, arms laden down with shopping bags.

Carly and Daniel talking at the hospital.

Bo, Carly and Caroline outside of the Brady Pub.

Bo and Carly leaving the courthouse, hand in hand.

Laying these photos aside, Hope opened the most recent envelope that her PI had brought to her that very evening. The man was excellent at his job and worth every penny that Hope was paying for his services. Each time Charlie Brooks brought her a new delivery, Hope would first look over the older photos in her collection.

Then, when she'd consumed enough pills and scotch to dull the thudding pain of her broken heart, she would open the newest package. She followed this ritual because she had learned early on that each subsequent set of photographs was more painful to view than the previous. For in each progressing picture, Bo's happiness seemed to increase exponentially.

The photos she now held in her hand were no exception, and Hope sank further into despair with each one.

Bo and Carly having dinner at the Pub, surrounded by Phillip, Melanie, Nicholas, Carys and Chelsea, with Ciara perched on Carly's lap.

Melanie and Chelsea pushing Ciara on the backyard swingset.

Ciara in her bed, Bo and Carly on either side of her, reading her a book.

Carly and Caroline exchanging a hug.

Ciara looking out of her bedroom window.

Bo and Carly entwined in their bed, so close that it was difficult to tell where one began and the other ended.

Wailing disgustedly, Hope flung the last of the pictures away from her, but it floated only briefly before landing mockingly on the bed before her. Rage getting the better of her, Hope threw the crystal glass at the wall where it shattered with a satisfying crunch. Oh, how she longed to do that to Carly Manning!

Fury seethed and roiled within Hope, hatred boiling in her veins for the woman who had ruined her life. Carly was destruction personified. She was a murdering, adulterous whore who wrecked the happiness of everyone with whom she came into contact. And Bo, the only man Hope had ever loved, was caught within her clutches, the hapless fly to her Black Widow spider.

Hope knew she was the only one who could save Bo. She'd thought that leaving town and giving over custody of Ciara to Bo would have sent him running after her. But she had underestimated the poisonous hold that Carly had on Bo. Poor Bo was so deluded that he actually believed himself to be building a happy family with the cheap slag; the photos clearly illustrated the fantasy that Bo was living in.

What else on earth could explain the smiles on Bo's face in all of these pictures? He was so ensnared by Carly that he didn't even realize what would bring him true happiness. Hope knew that no one but herself could ever fulfill Bo. After all, they had been together for nearly half their lives; she knew Bo better than anyone. Bo had, time after time, proven his love for her by admitting his faults, doing anything necessary to show that he was genuinely sorry for not putting her needs above his own.

Hope's heart broke all over again when she thought about her love trapped by that evil woman. Still, part of the blame lay at Bo's feet. He had allowed himself to be swayed by a pretty face from his past, and Carly had manipulated him every step of the way. But Hope was confident that when Carly was no longer in the equation, Bo would see the error of his ways. Then things could get back to normal.

Feeling better from her internal pep talk, Hope lifted the bottle of scotch only to find it empty. Frowning, she tossed the useless bottle into the trash and got up to retrieve another. She reached for another glass, but then realized that the last one was lying in shards on the floor, mixed in with the remnants of its fellows. She'd forgotten smashing the other glasses, poor substitutes for Carly Manning's face. Shrugging, she up-ended the bottle, enjoying the slow burn as the liquor made its way down her throat. She'd ring for room service later and have them clean up the mess and bring some more glasses.

Stretching out on the bed, Hope mindlessly drank from her bottle, her eyes growing heavy from the combination of single-malt scotch, Ambien, Elavil, Valium and Loritab. Buoyed by the sense of well-being provided by her self-mixed cocktail, her eyes slid shut as the nearly-empty bottle slipped from her fingers to the land with a quiet thud on the plush carpet. Her last thoughts were of Bo. She would save him from Carly, she had to.

"Still no answer?" Belle asked as a frustrated Shawn clenched his phone in his fist. Her husband had arrived back in Greece around 4:00 that afternoon. He'd told her of his meeting with his father and Carly Manning. Belle hadn't seen Shawn this miserable in years. And he was still trying to get in touch with his mother, to no avail.

"No!" Claire, coloring on the deck of the boat under the last rays of the Greek sunset, jumped when she heard her daddy yell. Seeing his daughter flinch, Shawn made an effort to lower his voice.

"No," he repeated. "Her phone rings four or five times, then goes to voicemail. She's not answering my emails or text messages, either. I just don't get it!"

 _And we're back to shouting_ , Belle thought. Aloud, she said, "Claire, Mommy and Daddy need to talk. Why don't you go watch a movie in the cabin?"

Claire was only too happy to follow her mother's suggestion and scooped up her art supplies before dashing down to the cabin. "Scaring Claire won't make your mother begin taking your calls, Shawn."

Shawn glowered at Belle. "I know that. I didn't mean to yell. I'm just…I don't even know which way is up right now! Mom practically fell off the face of the earth, Dad is marrying Carly Manning, of all people, and he managed to knock her up, too.

"None of this makes any sense. Everything is falling apart, yet my dad expects me to celebrate when what I really feel like doing is putting my fist through a wall!" To drive home his point, Shawn slammed his hand onto the rail, flinching at the pain, but at the same time relishing it. The physical pain provided a brief respite from the emotional turmoil he had been experiencing since he received Chelsea's phone call. Christ, was that only two days ago? It was two days that seemed to take two weeks to pass.

"Shawn, maybe the best thing you can do is nothing at all." Ignoring the look Shawn was giving her, Belle forged ahead. "Like it or not, your parents got divorced, and your dad is marrying someone else. Your mom left town and gave up Ciara, it sounds like of her own free will. What are you going to do, protest at the wedding ceremony?"

"I know there isn't really anything I can do, but, damn it, Belle! It just doesn't seem fair! My mom has had so much bad stuff happen to her. She doesn't deserve this shit! She should get to be happy with Dad. They should be together. That's the way it's always been, and that's how it should stay. Carly Manning left me and Dad like we were yesterday's trash, and she never looked back. And now I'm just supposed to sit back and watch her steal my dad away from my mom, take my little sister; and I'm supposed to like it? No fucking way."

"You don't have to like it, Shawn, but I really don't think there's anything you can do about it. Just be there for your mom if she needs you. What else can you do?"

"I've got to fucking find my mother first!" he growled.

"Do you have any idea where to look for her?"

"No."

"Then I guess you'll just have to wait until she contacts you, baby." Belle placed her hands on her husband's shoulders and began trying to massage away some of the tension. Shawn tugged on her hands until she staggered around in front of him. Putting his arms around her, he laid his head against her stomach.

"I love you, Belle, I really do."

"I love you, too, Shawn, and everything will be all right, you'll see." Belle's voice hinted at confidence, but she had an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach that things would get much worse before they got better.


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Bo picked Carly up from the hospital that afternoon, and when they got home, they found their household headcount had increased by two. Billie and Santana had arrived from London.

Santana Goiri was a striking _Latina_ who had grown up in New York City, influenced by the fashion she was exposed to there. She had made her name incorporating her Spanish heritage into the more Continental style so rampant in the Big Apple. She had moved to London two years ago and had exploded onto the British and European fashion scenes. Black hair fell in loose waves to her waist and framed a face with laughing brown eyes. She seemed very down to earth for a jet-setting fashion designer to royalty and celebrities alike.

Bo had wondered how he would feel when he first saw his former lover and the mother of his eldest daughter with a woman. However, when Santana warmly greeted him and he saw how peaceful Billie was around her, Bo realized that his only emotion was joy. He was thrilled for Billie and thankful that he got to see her so happy. He'd hurt her once, badly, and he'd regretted that fact to no end. Seeing her now eased some of the guilt he felt.

Santana had wasted no time carting Carly off to the bedroom to try on the dress she had designed. Billie, Carys, Ciara, Chelsea and Melanie went along for moral support, leaving Bo, Phillip and Nick in the living room.

"Gentlemen," Nick said, nodding in the direction that the gaggle of women had just gone. "We are seriously outnumbered at the moment."

"Thank Jesus we've got eight bathrooms," Phillip muttered.

"Won't matter," Bo said. "We'll still be the ones waiting." The doorbell chimed and Bo went to answer it. Caroline Brady stood on the doorstep.

"Ma! What are you doing here?"

Caroline kissed her son's cheek and stepped into the house. "I'm here to see Carly's first fitting, of course," she said, as though this should be the most obvious thing in the world. "Chelsea sent me a message that her mother and Santana were here and that Carly was about to try on her dress. I couldn't miss that so here I am. Now which way to your bedroom, dear?"

"Up the stairs, Ma, last one down the hall. But wait, I need to tell you something about Billie." Bo hesitated, not quite sure how to tell his mother that Billie was in a relationship with another woman. Caroline beat him to the punch, though.

"About Santana? Son, I've known that for ages. Billie told me herself right after they got together."

"No one ever tells me anything," Bo said, shaking his head, but Caroline was already moving towards the stairs.

In Bo and Carly's bedroom, the fitting was well underway when Caroline knocked on the door. She took a seat on the bed with the others while Santana went about the business of getting Carly into the dress. Ciara climbed into her grandmother's lap.

Santana finished doing up the tiny, pearl buttons on the back of the dress and arranged the train. "Well, what do you think?" she asked as she stepped away to allow Carly to view herself in the full-length mirror. Carly gasped at her reflection. The dress was simple, yet exquisitely beautiful.

"Mommy!" Ciara said in quiet wonder. "You look like a fairy princess." Sleeveless, the A line dress was made of chiffon the color of heavy cream. The front dipped into a v that hinted at the generous swell of her breasts, while a large contrasting ribbon of satin lined the bodice, causing the material to fall gently over her belly. The back of the dress fell into an even deeper v that went all the way to her lower back, continuing on into the sweeping train.

Santana knelt at Carly's feet pushing a few pins around the hem, making notes in her mind as to the few adjustments that would be necessary. They would, she was pleased to note, be very few, indeed.

"Carly, you do look absolutely gorgeous," said Caroline.

"Dad is gonna flip!" Chelsea exclaimed.

Carys and Billie made their own contributions of compliments, but it was Melanie's reaction that brought Carly to tears. Moving to stand behind her mother, Melanie rested her chin on Carly's shoulder and looked at their joint reflection in the mirror. Two sets of identical sea green eyes met in the mirror, and Melanie whispered, "Mama, you are so beautiful."

Tears welled up in Carly's eyes as she slowly turned and embraced her daughter. Melanie's arms went around her mother's waist as best they could with her unborn sibling between them. Her head rested on Carly's shoulder, and she felt her mother's kiss on her hair.

Even Ciara, naturally high-spirited, sensed the importance of the moment, though she didn't quite understand it. She sat quietly on her grandma's lap and watched her mommy and sister. She didn't comprehend why they were crying, but since no one else seemed to be upset, she figured that meant it was the good kind of crying that adults sometimes did.

"I am so thankful for you, my darling girl," Carly whispered in Melanie's ear. Melanie sniffed and then jumped back, afraid that she was going to ruin her mother's wedding gown with her tears. "Look at us!" she said and laughed to cover the fact that she was crying. "If we're in this kind of shape just trying on the dress, how the hell are we going to make it through the ceremony?"

"We'll manage, I expect," Caroline said. She handed tissues to Carly and Melanie, who both dabbed at their eyes. "Besides, happy tears are nothing to hide." On impulse, she hugged Carly. "You will make a lovely bride, Carly."

Carly, slightly stunned over Caroline's behavior, could only reply, "Thank you, Caroline." Then she added, "And I can never tell you how much it means to me that you're here."

The two shared another hug; then Billie spoke out, "Okay, ladies, that's enough mushiness for now. We've got a wedding to plan, and we don't have time to stand around blubbering like babies."

Santana helped Carly out of the dress and placed it back in the black garment bag. Carly was adamant that Bo not see the dress until the wedding, and the others were equally determined to keep it hidden from the prospective groom. In her regular clothes once more, Carly took a place on the bed and arranged the pillows behind her to support her back. Ciara moved next to her and curled into her mother's side.

"Chelsea said that she and Carys were going to be your bridesmaids and that Melanie would be your Matron of Honor," said Billie.

"That's right, and Bo's asked Phillip to be his Best Man and Nicky and Roman to stand up for him," Carly supplied.

"Okay, Chelsea, Carys and I have the final fittings for our dresses tomorrow," Melanie said. "And the guys are supposed to take Bo and Roman to get the tuxes then, too. I've already got your dress, Ciara. It's in my room. Would you like me to get it?"

Ciara nodded excitedly, and Melanie ran to get the dress, coming back just a few seconds later. Everyone oohed and ahhed over the dress. It was ivory and trimmed in pale yellow ribbon. "Our dresses are yellow, just like the ribbon on yours, Ciara," Melanie explained. "But you're special because you're the only one who will have a dress that's the same color as Mom's."

"Mommy, I'm going to look like a princess, too." Ciara's smile illuminated the room with its brightness.

"And you'll be the prettiest princess in the history of princesses, Munchkin."

"What kind of flowers will you carry?" Santana asked.

"Ivory and yellow roses for all of us," Carys said and pulled up a photo of them on her phone. "And Carly's will be all yellow."

"Will the men be in black tuxes?" Caroline asked, but Chelsea shook her head.

"No, they're actually kind of a khaki color. It sounds weird, I know, but they look terrific. They'll have yellow vests and boutineers."

"And where exactly is the wedding taking place?" Billie wanted to know.

"Salem Ecumenical Church at 1:00 on Saturday," Carys said.

"Oh, that's such a pretty little chapel!" Caroline gushed. Though, of course, she would prefer the wedding to take place at St. Bernadette's, she nonetheless knew that the simple, white-washed chapel with its flowering reflecting gardens would make a charming setting.

"That's what we thought, too," said Melanie. "And we're having the reception at the Botanical Gardens. Their glassed atrium will let us enjoy all the flowers within the glorious confines of air conditioning."

"How in the world did you three manage all this so quickly?" Carly wondered. The three girls shared a telling grin.

"We're very determined," Melanie replied.

"Fine, keep your little secrets," Carly told her daughter.

"All will be revealed in time, Mother dear." Melanie grinned impishly. "And I promise you will love it!"

Carly regarded her daughter with a trademark raised eyebrow. "Why am I suddenly afraid?"

"You really will love it, Mommy," Ciara wanted to assure her. "And so will Daddy. When you see the…" Chelsea clamped a hand over Ciara's mouth before she could spoil the surprise.

"Not so fast there, Munchkin," Chelsea cautioned. "Remember?" Ciara's eyes widened and she slowly nodded her head.

"Whoops," she said meekly. "It's a surprise, Mommy, and you'll just have to wait and see." Her delivery was so solemn as to be almost humorous.

"Okay, sweetheart," Carly vowed just as seriously.

"Um, Carly, I'd like to ask you something," Billie said.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Well, and I hope you don't think this is strange, and if you do, just tell me, because the last thing I want is for you to be uncomfortable at your own wedding…"

Carly interrupted Billie's ramble before it could really get rolling. "Just ask me. What is it?"

"I'd like to sing something for you and Bo, at the reception."

Carly's instant smile put Billie's doubts at ease. "I'd be honored if you would sing, Billie. You're so talented, and it would mean a lot to both Bo and me. Thank you, really."

"What are you going to sing, Mom?"

"It's just a little ballad I heard years ago and something you mentioned reminded me of it, Chels."

"Me? What did I say?"

"I don't remember it exactly, but it was after I'd told you about Carly and your dad. You said something along the lines of how hard they'd had to fight and how many obstacles they'd had to overcome for one another. I immediately thought of an old country song I learned years ago. It's called 'The Battle Hymn of Love.' It's actually a duet, but it works well as a solo, too."

Billie could tell from all of their expressions that none of her companions had ever heard the song. Well, all except Santana – Billie had sung it for her on the flight over from London, and Santana had loved it.

"Sing some of it for us now, Mom."

Billie looked at Carly, who nodded eagerly. "Please, do, I'd like to hear it."

"Okay."

"I will pledge my heart to the love we share,

Through the good and the bad times, too

I'll forsake my rest for your happiness

'Til my death I will stand by you.

As God as my witness, this vow I will make

To have and to hold you, no other to take

For rich or for poor, under skies gray or blue,

'Til my death I will stand by you.

There are wars and there are rumors

Of wars yet to come, temptations we'll have to walk through

And though others may tremble, I will not run

'Til my death I will stand by you.

I will put on the armor of faithfulness

And fight for a heart that is true

'Til the battle is won, I will not run

'Til my death I will stand by you."

"Oh my God." Carly was dabbing at the tears that had formed in her eyes. "Billie, that's absolutely wonderful. I would be so grateful if you would sing that for us."

"I'm really happy for you and Bo, Carly. You both deserve nothing but joy, and I'm so glad that you found one another again."

"Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. And, thank you, Santana, for giving me such an incredible dress. I love it."

Santana beamed, revealing deep dimples. "It was my pleasure. Plus I may have had an ulterior motive. I've been toying with the idea of launching a line of wedding gowns and evening wear for pregnant women, and you've definitely inspired me to go ahead with it. As a matter of fact, if you're agreeable, I'd like to use The Princess design as my first piece."

"Is that what you're calling Carly's dress?" Carys asked.

"Uh huh, Billie told me that was Bo's nickname for Carly so I used that as my inspiration. And of course, all the fashion magazines will know that I created it especially for Carly Manning Brady," Santana added with a dimpled grin.

"If you think it will help you sell, honey, by all means use my name. But considering I'm not much of a trend-setter, I don't know if it will do any you any good."

"Let me worry about that. You just concentrate on looking flat-out dazzling on your wedding day."

"Is everyone settled?" Carly asked Bo as he came into their bedroom. It was late, nearly 11:00, and she was feeling it.

"Yep, Chelsea is talking with her mom and Santana in their room, Nick and Carys are finishing a movie and Phillip and Mel just headed to bed." Ciara had been out for hours, happily tucked in by Bo and Carly. Whatever had Ciara so gloomy the day before seemed to have evaporated like so much myst.

Bo went into the bathroom and brushed his teeth. He then stripped down to nothing before sliding under the covers with his soon-to-be-bride, whom, he was pleased to note, was equally naked. Snuggling close to her warm and inviting body, he said, "Mmm, I love the way you think, Princess."

Carly's hips shifted back, seemingly of their own free will, and Bo's hand slid up to caress a full breast. That was all it took for Carly to moan her consent. She rolled over, an action that was becoming increasingly difficult, and met Bo's lips with hers. Hungry mouths sought satiation while ardent hands stroked willing flesh into a seething frenzy.

The full moon shined her beams into the secluded bedroom, illuminating the lovers in a golden glow. When at last they were joined, Bo caught the sensitive skin of Carly's shoulder in his teeth to keep from howling his satisfaction to the pregnant moon that showered them with her luminosity. They tumbled over the precipice of pleasure at the same time, secure in the knowledge that within their love lay the foundation of their life together.


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter 30

The next couple of days passed so quickly that it seemed to Carly that someone had hit the fast-forward button on her life. The house was full of friends and loved ones, and they were expecting Jack Campbell to arrive from New York that afternoon. He would be staying through the wedding – the wedding that was now only three days away.

Though most prospective brides were busy dashing around at the last minute, trying to accomplish innumerable tasks, Carly was grateful that she had only one pending appointment. She and Bo were on their way to Anne's office for Carly's next check-up. They were also scheduled to have an ultrasound, and Anne had told Carly she was far enough along at seventeen weeks that the sex of the baby could be determined. Anne had instructed them to bring a DVD onto which she would record the ultrasound, but Bo and Carly had yet to decide whether they wanted to know if they should paint the nursery pink or blue.

Seated on the examination table, her stomach exposed to the ultrasound technician, Carly knew that she and Bo had to come to a decision rather quickly. They were several minutes into the scan already, and the technician was busy taking measurements. She and Bo were unable to see the screen yet, but Carly knew they only had at best a few more moments to make a choice.

"Okay, Dr. Manning," the technician said cheerfully. "I have all I need for Dr. Snow to review. Do you want to know the baby's sex? I can assure you that in this particular case I have no doubts as to the baby's gender. You have quite the little exhibitionist in there."

Hazel eyes met jade as Bo and Carly began one of their silent communications. Bo squeezed her hands and glanced at the technician before meeting Carly's questioning gaze. "It's up to you, Princess."

Worrying her lower lip between her teeth, Carly pondered her choices. She supposed to most people it wasn't that big of a deal. She and Bo could be surprised now, or they could be surprised in the delivery room. She'd actually had it both ways – with Nicholas, she had not wanted to know the sex of the baby she carried. She'd been young and idealistic, and she'd wanted that perfect moment of hearing her doctor declare, "It's a boy!" or "Congratulations, you have a daughter!"

With Melanie, she'd known, though that had not been her choice. Lawrence had insisted they find out the baby's sex, and at the time, she had found his persistence endearing. With omniscient hindsight, she could now see the nastiness behind his actions.

"Carly?" Bo was growing concerned over her continued silence. "Are you all right?"

Pulled from her thoughts by his voice, Carly smiled reassuringly at Bo and nodded her head. "I'm fine, baby. But, if it's all right with you, I think I'd rather wait. Do you mind?"

For just a split second, disappointment was present in the eyes of Carly's soulmate. It was so brief that only one who knew Bo as intimately as Carly did would have detected it. "Then we'll wait," said Bo, his voice as steady as a rock.

Carly was about to relent, but then she got a better idea. _Oh, this will be perfect_! she thought.

"So we're waiting?" The technician wanted clarification before she went any further. At both of their nods, she began printing out various pictures and copying the scan onto the DVD that Bo and Carly had provided. "Okay, here are different images of your baby, all concealing the sex, of course. But if you do change your mind, all you have to do is give us a call and we can tell you over the phone. I'll also keep a couple of pictures in your file just in case you'd like those later."

"Thank you," Carly said as Bo helped her into a sitting position. "I can pee now, right?" She'd been required to have a full bladder for the ultrasound and was now fit to burst.

"Sure, we're all done here. I'm going to run these to Dr. Snow and you can meet her in exam room 10."

Carly made a mad dash for the bathroom, returning a few minutes later. She and Bo walked to the exam room where Anne assured them that their unborn baby could not look more perfect. "This little one is right on schedule for size and development, and we have a strong, steady heartbeat. Are you sure you don't want to know the sex?"

"We're going to wait," said Carly. Bo made no comment, which only left Carly feeling more determined to go ahead with her little plan.

"Well, okay, then," Anne said as she perused Carly's blood work results. "Your iron levels have already come up a bit, so let's keep on with the supplement. Has it aggravated your nausea at all?"

"No, the nausea has been pretty non-existent lately."

"As long as she stays away from the coffee," Bo offered with a grin.

"I want a giant cup of piping, hot coffee as soon as I deliver," Carly said lustfully.

"Whatever you want, Princess."

"You know if you just need a caffeine fix, you can have a soda," said Anne.

"I've come this far," Carly said with a shake of her head. "I'll hold out for the java."

"Have it your way, but if I were as much a caffeine junky as you are, Manning, I'd take what I could get," Anne teased her friend. "Moving on with other areas of health, your blood pressure is terrific so that's great news. Have you noticed any swelling?"

"No, nothing that I've picked up on."

"What about fetal movement?"

"I've been feeling a good deal of movement for a little over a week or so, but Bo hasn't been able to."

"That's normal at this stage. You're more aware, of course, because it's your body and your third rodeo, so to speak. Don't worry, Dad, you'll get your turn soon."

At "dad," Bo broke into a grin that stayed with him throughout the rest of the day. Even after he had walked Carly to her office door and kissed her goodbye, even after he was bombarded at the station with questions that it seemed only "Commissioner Brady" could answer, even after he sent Shawn a message that was answered with a brusque "not now," the smile never quite left his face.

Some of his officers commented on it, when they thought he was out of hearing range, but it didn't matter to Bo. Carly Manning was pregnant with his child, and somewhere in the neighborhood of 72 hours, they would finally be man and wife. As far as Bo was concerned, he had every reason to smile.

As soon as Jack Campbell laid eyes on Chelsea Brady, he knew he was in trouble. Their eyes met, and Jack could have sworn that he heard a choir of angels singing. Then he realized that Carys was fiddling with different songs on her laptop, trying to compose a playlist for the reception. Still, Jack was in over his head already, and the object of his affection had only said, "Hello."

To Jack, there was no word more beautiful in the entire English language than hello. It was now his favorite word. Chelsea had continued onto the kitchen, and from there, to the garage, without so much as a backward glance at the man she had just rendered speechless. Jack heard a car start and knew that Chelsea had left the house. Yet he remained, frozen in place, staring into the void that she had left behind. He was only brought out of his daze by the sound of Nick's boisterous laughter at Jack's expense.

"Dude, do you need a minute?" Nick asked and started laughing all over again.

"Why didn't you tell me there was a goddess living in the house with you?" Jack dropped onto the nearest piece of furniture – the love seat – heedless of his friend's antics.

"I can't believe it," Nick said, finally getting himself under control. "All the women you've seduced and charmed and romanced and left crying in your wake, and my almost-stepsister knocked you on your ass, just by saying hi."

"What can I say? There's something about that girl. I just, I don't know how to explain it, but she's the one, Nick."

Nick blinked. Then he blinked again. "You're serious."

"I am," Jack replied in what Nick thought of as his courtroom voice. It was a tone usually reserved for case-winning closing arguments.

"Well, holy shit," Nick said and smiled broadly.

"Holy shit," Jack repeated, grinning like an ass and not caring a bit. "Now tell me everything you know about her."

Hope left the little pharmacy in Brookwood, clutching the white paper sack close to her chest as though someone might snatch it from her. It had taken some persuasion on her part to get the doctor in town to increase her prescription dosage, but it was worth it. Her next stop was the liquor store.

Jeff, the college kid who worked there, saw Hope get out of her car. She normally came by every four days, and Jeff looked forward to each and every visit. He knew she was old enough to be his mother, but she was hot as hell. She always paid in cash, but she'd told him her name was Gina. He didn't believe her for a second. It was probably Jane or Susan or something boring like that, but he could care less. He'd call her any name she wanted as long as it would get him in her pants. She was almost at the door, and Jeff pulled four bottles of 12 year-old _Glenfiddich_ off the top shelf behind him. By the time "Gina" opened the door, he had them bagged up for her.

"Thank you, Jeff," Hope said, gifting the boy with a flirtatious smile. She handed him two $100 dollar bills to cover her purchase, allowing her fingertips to graze his just a few seconds longer than necessary. Jeff felt the contact all the way down to his balls, and he decided to risk it.

"You know, Gina, I'll be done here in a couple of hours. Why don't I pick you up around seven? I know a great little Italian place. What do you say?" Coffee eyes raked over him from head to toe before full lips spread into a slow grin.

"How about you just swing by the restaurant and get us some take-out? I'm in Room 87 at The Tutwiler." Hope took her bag off the counter and sauntered out of the store, her hips swaying invitingly for Jeff's benefit.

Once back in the confines of the hotel, Hope took a hot shower in preparation of her rendezvous with Jeff. She felt no guilt whatsoever about sleeping with the young man – to her way of thinking, it was a business transaction. Jeff would get what he wanted – her – and she'd have yet another thing to make Bo regret not chasing after her.

Bo had been half-crazed when he learned of her night with Patrick. Once Bo realized that his actions had once again driven Hope into the arms of another man, then surely they would be one step closer to reconciliation. After all, no matter what happened between them, Bo always came back to her, begging for another chance. This time, despite the more drastic measures Hope had found it necessary to take, would be no different. Bo would come back to her – it was only a matter of time.


	31. Chapter 31

Chapter 31

Phillip watched, amused, as his older brother paced to and fro in the little rectory just off the sanctuary. The space couldn't have been larger than 10x10, and Bo had trod every square inch of it.

"Bo, you gonna make it?" Phillip asked.

"I'm just so ready to marry Carly," Bo said, still pacing. "You guys have no idea how long I've waited for this moment. How much longer 'til we can go out?"

"About ten minutes, little brother," Roman offered. He clapped a hand on Bo's shoulder. He hadn't seen Bo this fidgety since…well, since the night of the masked ball, when he was waiting to reunite with Carly after the kidnapping. Roman smiled at the memory. Bo had been ready to charge Hell with a water pistol just to get to Carly Manning's side. Not much had changed in nearly twenty years.

"Settle down, Bo. You won't do your bride any good at all if you walk yourself into a heart attack."

Bo nodded his head, as though listening to Roman's sage advice, but he never missed a step in his pacing. Sighing, Roman seized Bo by the shoulders, bringing his brother to a stumbling halt.

"Bo. Stop. Pacing."

Bo nodded again, but this time he remained in place. There was a short knock on the rectory door, and Reverend Robert Bradley, the Senior Pastor of Salem Ecumenical Church, opened the door. "Gentlemen," he said with a benevolent smile. "It's time."

"It's time?" Bo asked, as though he couldn't believe his ears. "I get to marry Carly now?"

The elderly parson, who had seen every type of groom come through his chapel over the life of his ministry, only smiled again and nodded. "Yes, Bo, it's time to greet your bride."

Grinning wider than either of his brothers could ever recall seeing, Bo darted towards the door. He all but sprinted to the altar, causing a few titters to erupt from the gathered guests. Behind him came Phillip and Roman, moving to their brother's side. Rev. Bradley followed the two groomsmen and took his place on the other side of Bo.

The pastor could not recall an occasion when the guests before him had been gathered together. Victor Kiriakis and Caroline Brady were seated on the front row of the left side of the church. Next to Caroline sat two of her granddaughters, Samantha Brady and Stephanie Johnson. Stephanie was accompanied by young Dr. Nathan Horton. Behind them, were Maggie Horton and Mayor Abe and Dr. Lexi Carver.

On the right side of the church, an even odder group was seated. Dr. Daniel Jonas and Chloe Lane, Dr. Anne Snow, Brady Black and Arianna Hernandez, Stefano and Kate Dimera, Billie Reed and Santana Goiri, the famous fashion designer, and finally Jack Campbell, who the reverend knew to be an attorney from New York City.

No, surely a motlier crew had never been assembled in Salem, and certainly not within the confines of Reverend Bradley's little church.

The pianist, startled by the abrupt arrival of the groom, began to play _Canon in D_ , cuing Carys to start down the aisle. Chelsea came next; then Melanie, as the Matron of Honor. Bo knew that left only Ciara and Carly. The desire to see his bride ratcheted up about a hundred levels.

Ciara popped into view and entered the sanctuary, dropping yellow rose petals in her wake. She stepped happily down the aisle, smiling at all her friends and family. Her mommy looked so pretty, and Ciara couldn't wait for her daddy to see her. As the little ray of sunshine passed her paternal grandfather, she even managed to garner a smile out of the great Victor Kiriakis, who could not resist the joy that emanated from Ciara.

The music changed suddenly to _The Bridal March_ , and finally, Bo glimpsed Carly. She was coming towards him on Nicholas's arm. Their eyes locked, and the entire world fell away for Bo. He forgot to breathe; she was so beautiful. Yellow roses were tucked into her dark hair and matched the bouquet she carried. Her ivory dress caught her curves in all the right places, including the swell of their unborn baby. Her smile was only for Bo as Nicholas escorted her down the aisle.

Mother and son reached the altar and the music ceased.

"Who gives this woman to be married to this man?" Rev. Bradley asked.

"I do," Nick answered. Then he leaned down and kissed his mother's cheek. "I love you, Mom," he whispered. Then he placed Carly's hand into Bo's open palm. "Thank you for loving my mother," Nick said lowly.

A knot in his throat threatened his ability to speak so Bo simply nodded, and Nicholas stepped over to stand next to Roman. Carly passed her bouquet to Melanie and turning, gave all her attention to Bo. Bo, unable to resist, lifted Carly's hand to his mouth and brushed the faintest of kisses over her knuckles. They moved as close to one another as they could get in the presence of others, and turned to face the minister.

"My dear friends, we are gathered together here to witness the union between Bo Brady and Carly Manning. They have come to join themselves together in the holy estate of matrimony.

"Marriage is a gift of God to humankind. It is not a state to be entered into lightly, but should be approached in honesty and with all joy and certainty for both parties. Is there anyone present who can give reason why this man and this woman should not be joined together?"

Carly knew that the minister had to ask that question, that he had to wait a few seconds just in case anyone had an objection. But there was a deep, abiding fear in her that half-way expected Hope to burst into the sanctuary. Consequently she held her breath until Rev. Bradley began to speak again.

"I have spoken at length with Bo and Carly, and I must say that I would be hard-pressed to recall a couple more deeply in love with one another than they are. They would now like to share vows of their own creation. Bo, you may begin."

Losing himself in Carly's deep green eyes, Bo opened his mouth and spoke from his heart. "It seems as though you and I have waited an eternity to get to this point, Carly. But here we are, on our wedding day, and my heart is so full of love and happiness that I think it might burst.

"When we met, I didn't want to love you. But the heart seeks its own pleasure, and in you, I found my soulmate. I foolishly let you go once, and my one regret is letting you leave the boat all those years ago."

Here Bo began to weep, unashamed of the tears that flowed down his cheeks. "But we can't change the past. We can only look to the future. And from this moment, I promise you that I will never leave your side. I will never let you go. I will love you and protect you, and I will help you raise our children, and I will joy in each and every moment that we have together.

"Without you, I am only half of a unit. Because your face is my heart, Princess, and your love is my soul."

Heedless of the tears that flowed unchecked down her own cheeks, Carly shared her heart with Bo. "No one has ever loved me the way that you do, Bo. I'll never understand what I did to be worthy of your love, but I plan to spend the rest of my life by your side. You are my other half, baby. You make me whole. You heal me.

"Your love brought me back from the depths of despair, and you've given me a gift I can never repay. There is a part of me that is afraid this is all a dream, but then I open my eyes and I see your face and I know that I am safe at last. Because your arms are the only home I've ever known. I love you, Bo Brady, with everything that I am. You are the keeper of my heart, and I place it willingly in your hands."

Though the bride and groom were unaware at the moment of their surroundings beyond one another, there were very few dry eyes in the small church. In fact, the only people Rev. Bradley did not see shedding tears were Stefano Dimera and Victor Kiriakis, and as he had serious doubts as to whether those two even had souls, he didn't think it likely that they could cry.

"Bo and Carly will now exchange rings. The ring is a circle, a symbol of love everlasting, with no beginning and no end. May I have the rings, please?" Phillip carefully handed over Carly's ring and Melanie did the same. Taking them, Rev. Bradley gave Bo the ring for Carly.

Bo slid the ring onto Carly's finger and said, "I give you this ring as a token of my love, Carly, and as I give it, I give you also my body, to worship yours, to protect and defend you, as long as we both live. With this ring, I thee wed."

Carly then took Bo's ring from the minister. She slipped the ring on Bo's finger, her eyes never leaving his. "This ring is a symbol of my love for you, Bo. I give you my body, my heart and my soul. They are yours to have and to hold, for the rest of our lives. With this ring, I thee wed."

"With the power vested in me, I now pronounce you Man and Wife. You may kiss your bride."

Not one to waste an opportunity, Bo pulled Carly to him and covered her mouth with his. It might possibly have been the longest kiss the good reverend had ever witnessed, and as it went on, he began to worry the happy couple would decide to consummate their union then and there.

Carly and Bo were lost in a world of one another, their mouths fused together, united in a manner that the rest of their body parts longed to be. When at last the need for oxygen outweighed their amorous desire, Bo and Carly separated to a rousing round of applause, cat-calls and whistles. They remained in one another's embrace, looking at their friends and family who all seemed so pleased to share in such a joyous day with them.

Everyone laughed when Ciara, not wishing to be left out, dropped her flower basket and tugged on Carly's arm, wanting to be picked up. Bo obliged his daughter, and both he and Carly rained kisses on their little girl's cheeks, making her squeal in delight. Feeling truly blessed to have taken part in uniting such a loving couple, Rev. Bradley raised his hands in an effort to quiet the crowd before him.

"Ladies and gentleman, it is my great honor and pleasure to present to you now Mr. and Mrs. Bo Brady!"


	32. Chapter 32

Chapter 32

"Can I take it off yet?"

Carly lifted her left hand to tug at the blindfold covering her eyes, but Bo caught her hand in his and brought it to rest on his thigh. "Behave, Princess. You'll spoil my surprise."

Huffing slightly, Carly stretched her legs as much as the confines of the car would allow. She had changed at the reception into a short denim skirt that showcased her long legs and a black t-shirt emblazoned with the word "Bride" in white letters. Bo had traded in his tux for a pair of faded Levi's that looked positively yummy on him and his black tee sported "Groom," also in white. The shirts had been a last minute gift from Billie and Santana.

The reception had been lovely, even though Melanie had forced them to pose for what felt like thousands of pictures with the photographer she had hired. All the guests had played nicely with one another, but Carly could personally have cared less if Victor and Stefano had decided to murder one another over the chocolate covered strawberries. She was Bo Brady's wife and there wasn't a damn thing in the world that could wipe the smile from her face today.

Deciding to try and wriggle their destination from Bo one more time, Carly laid her head on Bo's shoulder and said, "We're husband and wife now, Bo. We shouldn't keep secrets from one another." As she spoke she idly trailed her index finger slowly up and down the inside of Bo's thigh.

She felt the muscle quiver and flex beneath her fingertip and suddenly she found herself wishing that he would just pull over on the side of the road. Capturing her hand once more, Bo lifted the dangerous digit to his lips and enveloped it slowly into his mouth. Carly exhaled in a hiss. Bo only smiled, though he knew his bride couldn't see the action.

"And we don't have any secrets from each other. At least, we won't after the next couple of minutes," Bo said. He made a right hand turn, and the car began the steady climb up the road that would lead them to the cabin.

"Couple of minutes?" Carly sat straight up in her seat. "You mean we're almost there?" _Thank Jesus_ , she thought. Her nipples were straining painfully against the material of her lacy bra, and Bo had only taken the tip of her finger into his mouth. When she thought of other places for his mouth to touch her…

 _Oh my God_. She slammed her hand down on the door.

"You okay?" Bo was looking at her as if she'd suddenly grown another head.

"It feels like we're going uphill," Carly observed, in an effort to distract Bo from her somewhat erratic behavior.

"That's right."

"And we haven't been driving that long."

"No, we haven't." Sweat began to bead on Bo's brow. _Don't figure it out, Princess!_ Bo silently willed. He really wanted to take Carly by surprise.

"You aren't going to tell me where we're going, are you?" Carly was almost petulant in her response.

"Not 'til I get you out of the car."

The car crested the top of the hill and the cabin came into view. Stopping the car, Bo quickly got out and ran around to the passenger side. He opened the door and took Carly's hand to help her get to her feet. Keeping one arm around her waist, he whispered in her ear, "We're here, Mrs. Brady." Then he removed the blindfold.

Blinking in the sudden brightness of the afternoon sun, Carly took in their surroundings. She gasped in wonder before turning and launching herself at Bo. Arms full of his new wife, Bo held onto her as she began to sob.

"Oh, Bo! I can't believe it! It's our cabin. You remembered."

Bo lifted her head from his chest and brushed the tears from her beautiful face. "I could never forget the place where I first told you I loved you, Princess. And I couldn't think of any place better to spend our wedding night. Do you like it?"

A searing kiss from Carly communicated her joy to Bo quite well. "I love it! And I love you," she said, breathless from their kiss. She glanced around and noticed that the grass had been freshly mowed and the cabin, though still rustic, appeared to have been given a major facelift. The windows were sparkling, and the entire property had the air of a place that had been well-tended.

"How did you do all this?" she asked, waiving her arm around to encompass their surroundings. "Get it ready, I mean. It's obvious someone's been here doing some work."

"I asked the girls to come out here and clean things up, but from the looks of things I'd say they did a bit more than some dusting. Look," Bo pointed to a meter that had been installed on the side of the little cabin. "We've got power."

"What on earth did the girls do?" Carly wondered aloud.

Taking her hand, Bo tugged her towards the front door. "I don't know, but let's find out." Carly sqealed when they reached the door and Bo scooped her up to carry her inside.

"Can't break tradition, Princess," Bo told her as he sat her on her feet. Then they were both stunned into silence as they beheld the interior of the little cabin.

It was at once drastically different, but underneath the noticeable changes, it was still their cabin. Obviously everything had been cleaned. Gone were the cobwebs and dust that had greeted them on their first visit all those years ago. Every surface gleamed, twinkled or shined based on its material. The wrought iron bed frame sported a fresh coat of paint, and a lovely eiderdown quilt covered the mattress.

Next to the old, wood-burning stove sat a small refrigerator, a lucky recipient of the newly installed power source. On a table by the bed someone had thoughtfully placed a vase of wildflowers, nearly every color of summer represented in their petals. The door to the bathroom was opened, and Carly gravitated to it. Here, too, everything was polished to a state of cleanliness the likes of which Carly had never seen. The girls had been busy!

"Hey, Carly!" Bo called from the other room. "Come take a look at this." Bo was standing by the little table and chairs when Carly came back to the main room. A portable DVD player sat on the table with a note that said "Play me." Bo looked at Carly, who shrugged her shoulders. He mashed the play button.

Their family – Nick, Carys, Melanie, Phillip, Chelsea and Ciara - came into view.

"Hi, Mommy and Daddy!" Ciara greeted them with a smile. "It's us! We hope you like your surprise, Mommy. We worked really hard to get it ready for you and Daddy. But we've got one more present for you." Here Ciara turned to look at Nick, who then began speaking.

"Check the drawer in the nightstand. You'll find an envelope there." Bo took the few steps to the nightstand and retrieved the envelope. "In it you'll find the deed to the property and the cabin. They're yours. We wanted to get you something special for your wedding, and when Mel told us what you said about the cabin, Bo, we knew this was what we wanted to give you."

Green eyes wide, Carly snatched the envelope from Bo and ripped it open. The deed was dated today and was titled to Bo Brady and Carly Manning Brady. Their attention was torn from the legal document when Carys spoke from the screen.

"I prepared a couple of meals for you. You only need to heat them up, and I taped a card with instructions on each dish. There are two baskets next to the stove, one with plates, glasses and utensils, and the other, with fresh fruit and bread. You'll find juice and water in the fridge, too, along with some cold snack foods and sweets. Bo, there's a small supply of coffee for you."

"We stocked the bathroom cabinet with plenty of towels and linens," Chelsea said.

"And we had a path cleared all the way down to the pond in case you want to go swimming. You'll find swim suits and beach towels in the linen chest in the bathroom." That was Melanie.

Hands on Melanie's shoulder Phillip said, "We've already filed the deed with the probate court. What you're holding is a copy. We should have the original back in a couple of days."

"Hurry home, Mommy and Daddy, because I miss you already," cried Ciara.

Then everyone shouted "Happy Wedding!" and the screen went blank.

"I can't believe they did this!" Carly exclaimed.

"Me, neither." Bo was astonished at the thoughtfulness of their family.

Shaking her head in disbelief Carly laid aside the deed and went to her husband. _Bo is my husband!_ Carly didn't think she'd ever get over that fact. She slipped her arms around his neck and rose up on her toes to brush her lips softly against his.

"What are you doing, Princess?"

"I'm kissing my husband."

Their mouths met in a gentle and lazy dance that slowly grew more heated as their hands began to wander. Carly's tongue darted across Bo's bottom lip, seeking entrance, which Bo granted. With each union of their lips, the desire between them flared with an undeniable passion.

Carly pulled away and tugged at Bo's shirt until he raised his arms. She yanked off the shirt and threw it somewhere over her shoulder. Her fingernails grazed his flat nipples as her mouth laid kisses over his chest. Bo's hands went to her hair, which she had let down at the reception, and dragged her mouth back to his.

"I want you so much," Carly said in between kisses. She kissed her way down his neck and chest once more and quickly undid his jeans. In one fluid movement, shockingly graceful for a woman nearly twenty weeks pregnant, Carly dropped to her knees, taking Bo's jeans and boxers down with her.

Bracing her hands on his thighs, she took him into her mouth. Somewhere above her Bo was speaking in tongues. Her name was interwoven with pleas and grunts. Carly smirked and kept to her task, alternating the pressure of her lips, teeth and tongue until Bo thought he would surely die from pleasure. At one point, Carly raised her eyes and met Bo's.

Wanton passion deepened the green of her eyes to smoky jade and Bo's hazel eyes rolled back in his head as he lost himself in her mouth. Licking her lips, Carly slowly rose to her feet. Bo wrapped his arms around her and buried his head in her neck. Fervently thankful they were close to the bed Bo shuffled a couple of steps backwards and sank onto the mattress, Carly settling on his lap.

Bo was still breathing rapidly, his head pillowed on Carly's breasts. "Are you trying to kill me?" He said at last. A sultry laugh was his wife's reply.

"Not yet, baby. We're just getting started."

"And you, Princess, are seriously overdressed," Bo answered as he set about to remedy that particular problem. He pushed Carly off his lap and pulled her shirt off to reveal her lace-covered breasts. Squeezing the generous mounds of flesh in his hands, Bo leaned up to capture a dusky nipple in his mouth, causing the lace to scrape delightfully over the sensitive tip. Moisture flooded the juncture between Carly's thighs. She couldn't remember ever wanting Bo this much before, and he'd barely even touched her.

Moving his mouth to Carly's other breast he unfastened her skirt and let it fall to the floor. Matching lace panties sat low on her hips, just under the rounded swell of her belly. Grasping the side of her panties, Bo tugged fiercely and the material gave way.

"Hey, those were new!"

"I'll buy you some more."

He reached up with one hand and opened her bra, dropping it to the floor. His jeans and boxers were still around his ankles, held in place by his shoes. He got rid of them; then he put his arms around Carly and pulled her back down onto his lap. Her thighs opened to straddle him, but Bo shook his head.

"Please, Bo! I need you now!"

But her husband only chuckled at her and gently guided her until she was facing away from him, still seated on his lap. She was mewling in protest, her hips moving of their own volition, seeking the relief that only Bo could bring her. Bo peppered her neck with nips and kisses while his hands played with her breasts.

"Not just yet, Princess. I want you beyond yourself when I finally take you."

"I already am," she protested.

"You're not even close."

One hand slid from her breasts, over the bulge of their unborn child, and down onto her spread thighs. Slipping higher and higher, his fingers at last found the tender flesh between her legs. She was dripping for him. He sank two fingers into her wetness while his other hand continued its sweet torture of her nipples.

He knew it wouldn't take long; already he could feel her beginning to pulse around his fingers. Warmth seeped from her womb, spilling out through her nerve endings as Bo coaxed the first of many orgasms from her body. As her hips finally stilled, so did Bo's fingers.

Carly's head was resting on his shoulder, but her face was turned towards his. Knowing she was watching him, Bo lifted his fingers to his mouth, relishing the taste of her.

"Bo, please," Carly whispered. Even though she'd just experienced a body-tingling climax, she knew she would not be fully sated until Bo was finally inside her.

"Patience, Princess." Bo lifted her off his lap and motioned for her to recline against the pillows. "We're just getting started, remember?"

Before she could utter further protests, Bo covered her mouth with his. By the time his mouth enveloped her nipple, Carly's eyes had closed and she offered her body up to Bo to do with as he wished. His hardness pressed into her thigh as he kept up his assault on her most sensitive places. At last she felt his mouth on the skin of her inner thighs; then it was pressed against her, his tongue swirling slowly around her swollen nub.

Carly was nearly out of her mind from the pleasurable onslaught of Bo's touch. He knew exactly how to use his mouth, where and when, to bring her the most bliss. Almost before she knew it, she was coming again. When at last her body stopped shaking, Bo rose over her, hovering just on the edge of her slick passage.

"Are you all right?" he asked, not wanting to push her too much because of the baby. In answer, Carly wrapped her legs around Bo, her heels digging into the backs of his thighs. Taking the hint, Bo plunged into her willing body.

It would not matter how many times they made love; to Bo, each union was a gift, a memory to be treasured. Their hips met over and over, driving one another to the peak of satisfaction. Their eyes locked as they silently communicated the speech of their hearts with the movements of their bodies.

 _You're mine, Princess, now and forever._

 _I will never leave you, Bo, no matter what._

Bo was close, so close, but he would not allow his own release without Carly's. Reaching between their bodies, his fingers found the tiny bundle of nerves hidden there and pressed in such a way that he knew would guarantee her climax.

"Come for me, Princess!" His body echoed his verbal demand and hers willingly surrendered.

The arousal in her belly coiled hot and tight once; then exploded in a shower of ecstasy that had Bo groaning his own release in a strangled cry of her name.

"Carly!"

Shaking, Bo stretched out on his back, allowing a trembling Carly to curl on her side into his arms. The baby, roused by the quaking of its mother's womb, announced its presence by jabbing what Carly was certain had to be a foot into her side. She took Bo's hand and placed it over the spot, pushing in slightly, and getting a stern shove in return.

"I felt that!" Bo said, tentatively poking her side again. When the baby gave another push, Bo laughed out loud.

"That reminds me," Carly said, sitting up. "I've got a surprise for you, but it's in our bag."

"Which is in the car."

"Uh huh."

"And I'm guessing you want me to get it."

"Wow, it's like you can read my mind."

"You realize I can hardly move," Bo said.

"Please?" She fluttered her lashes at him.

"Oh, all right," Bo sighed as though it was a terrible burden, when they both knew that he would rope the moon for her if she decided she wanted it. He pulled on his jeans and retrieved their one bag and Carly's purse from the car. He sat both on the table when he returned.

"There's an envelope in the side pocket of our bag," Carly said. She had turned down the bed when he had gone outside and was now propped comfortably against the pillows, the sheet pulled up to her waist. Bo pulled the envelope from the bag and did a double-take when he saw the logo for Anne's medical practice in the corner.

"What is this?" he asked.

Carly patted the bed, and Bo went and sat down beside her. "Well, you seemed a little disappointed the other day during the ultrasound when I said I didn't want to find out the baby's sex. So I asked Anne to seal the results and leave them in my office. It's up to you; if you want to find out, all you have to do is open the envelope."

Bo looked at the envelope and then back at Carly. "But you really seemed like you wanted to wait. I don't want you to feel like you have to give that up just for me."

Carly smiled and kissed him chastely on the lips. "I'm having your baby. It doesn't matter to me if we have a son or a daughter. I'm happy to wait or to find out now. You choose."

Bo stared into Carly's eyes for a long moment. "You're sure you don't mind knowing now?"

"If you want to know now, then so do I. Open it already!" she exclaimed when Bo still seemed hesitant. Like a kid at Christmas, Bo tore open the envelope, but thrust it at Carly before he pulled out the contents.

"Here, you do it. I'm too nervous."

Giggling, Carly tugged out a black and white ultrasound photo. Tears sprang to her eyes as she held out the picture for Bo to see.

Bo read the single word typed out across the top of the picture. Smiling blindly, Bo pulled Carly to him and kissed her soundly. Then he leaned down and placed a tender kiss on the top of her belly. "I can't wait to meet you, little girl."

Melanie padded down the hallway of the unusually quiet house. She had put Ciara to bed, and her little sister had barely made it to the second page of Sleeping Beauty before drifting off to sleep. It had been a long day for all of them, and Ciara had been going non-stop since she had awakened that morning.

Phillip was waiting for her in the living room and had poured her a glass of champagne. He held it out to her, but Melanie declined it. "My head is swimming enough already. I just want to go to bed."

Phillip shrugged and sat the glass back on the bar. "Nick and Carys have already turned in, and who knows when the others will be back?" Billie, Santana and Chelsea had been invited to dinner with Kate and Stefano, and Chelsea had drafted Jack for moral support. Not that Jack had minded in the slightest. He didn't care what he was doing so long as he was with Chelsea. Phillip had to hand it to the lawyer – he certainly hadn't wasted any time where Chelsea was concerned. In fact, Phillip had overheard Jack asking Chelsea to accompany him back to New York.

"Well, Chelsea has a key. We have a bed. It's calling our names." Melanie put her arms around Phillip's waist, and they began walking towards the stair case. They were half way up the stairs when the door bell rang.

"Who the hell could that be?" Phillip wondered.

"Maybe Chelsea forgot her key."

Whoever was at the door was impatient because they began hammering on the door while simultaneously ringing the bell. Phillip and Melanie hurried to the foyer, afraid the noise would wake Ciara. Phillip flung open the door, ready to lay into whoever had the audacity to carry on in such a manner.

Standing on the doorstep was possibly the last person Phillip or Melanie had ever expected to see.


	33. Chapter 33

Chapter 33

"Hope!" Melanie gasped. "What are you doing here?"

Hope looked at Melanie, the bastard daughter of the woman who had stolen Hope's life. "I'm here for my daughter," she answered coolly.

Melanie, instantly riled, shot back, "You don't have a daughter, not anymore. You gave her up, remember?"

"I'm not speaking to you about this, Melanie," Hope said dismissively. "Go get Ciara and we'll be on our way."

Melanie's mouth dropped open, shock coloring her features. "Excuse me? What planet are you on? Because it sure as hell isn't Earth! If you think for one minute that you can just march in here…"

"Hope," Phillip said, interrupting Melanie's tirade. "You need to leave. Now."

"Phillip, I am not leaving here without my daughter. Now, you either bring her to me, or step aside while I get her myself!"

When Melanie and Phillip only stared at her, Hope made a move as though to come in. Melanie raised her arm to block Hope's entrance. "I don't think so. Mom and Bo aren't here, and there is no way you're setting foot in this house."

"Hope, go home," Phillip's voice was low yet firm.

Hope, nostrils flaring, pushed hard at Melanie, sending her stumbling backwards. She then darted past Phillip, who was momentarily distracted by Melanie's fall.

"Hey!" he shouted when Hope started across the living room. Phillip ran after her, determined to stop his former sister-in-law from getting to Ciara. He received some much welcomed help when Nick and Carys, wakened by the commotion, came running downstairs to see what was wrong.

Nicholas Alamain and Hope Brady had never formally met, but they each knew instinctively who the other was. Nick recognized Hope from photographs, and Hope had no problem at all seeing Carly Manning in the face of the man sprinting full-tilt towards her. It seemed as though Carly's children had both inherited their mother's green eyes, and Nick's were blazing jade fire as he bore down on Hope.

Stopping short of bowling the woman over, Nick towered over Hope and stared down at her. "I will say this once. Leave my parents' home now, or you will be forcibly removed."

Hope snorted disgustedly. "Your parents? You are the son of a whore and a maniac. Bo is not your father! He's my husband, and I'm here to take our daughter back to our home."

Nick, temper barely constrained, told Carys, who was standing just behind him to call the police. "Tell them we have a trespasser." Carys did so, on her cell phone, which she had tucked as an afterthought into the pocket of her bathrobe. She hurriedly gave the police the address and disconnected the call. She stepped closer to Nick, not liking the look she saw on her fiancé's face. In all the years she'd known Nicholas Alamain, Carys had never once thought that Nick resembled his father emotionally.

But she had seen Lawrence Alamain on a tear. The man in front of her, ready to defend his family, bore an eerie likeness to the one who had frightened her on more than one occasion. Yet even as she watched the darkness in Nick rise to the surface, she also witnessed the goodness he had inherited from his mother take hold.

"Hope," Nick said, now firmly in control of his temper. "This is your chance to walk away. May I suggest you do so now, before this situation escalates?"

Hope jabbed her finger in Nick's chest. "I won't leave here without my daughter."

"She isn't your daughter." Nick was the epitome of calm. "She's my parents' daughter. That makes her my sister. Leave now, before something happens that you'll regret." Carys wondered briefly if Nick was even aware that he had just referred to Bo as his father not once, but twice.

"Are you threatening me?" Hope rose up on her toes. She would not allow this insolent boy to deter her from her goal.

Nick gave Hope a smile that was more akin to a grimace. "It's a promise. The police are on their way. If you leave now, I won't press charges. If, however, you remain on the premises until the police arrive, then I will see to it that you are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law." Nick then leaned as close to Hope as he dared. "And I always keep my promises."

Deep within Hope, a small flame of fear sparked. The man in front of her was dangerous. He was perhaps not inherently evil like his great-aunt and his father, but she could sense the potential ruthlessness that lay just under the surface. Still, she had come this far. All she had to do was get Ciara and take her home. Then Bo would come after them, and she could reason with him until he saw things from her perspective. And this entire episode with Carly would all just be like a bad dream.

"I'm not leaving without my daughter," Hope repeated. "I am her mother, and the law is on my side. We'll just wait until the police arrive."

"The hell we will!" Melanie shouted and started towards Hope. "You get out of my mother's house! Didn't you hear my brother? You have no rights at all, no right to be here and certainly no right to Ciara!"

Hope turned on Melanie with the ferociousness of a cornered tiger. "Who are you to even address me? You're nothing but a whore, just like your mother!" Hope lunged at Melanie again, and Nick jumped in between them.

"Don't touch my sister!" He screamed. His hands dug painfully into the flesh of Hope's upper arms. Rage flowed through his veins, and for a split second, he imagined throwing her to the floor, heard the satisfying thud her head would make as it hit the cold, marble surface. Just as quickly as the need for violence infected him, Nick shook himself free of its paralyzing grip and dropped his arms to his sides.

"Just go," he said quietly. "You have no place here."

Hope, momentarily frightened of Nick, now stood tall and raised a regal eyebrow. "You just assaulted a police officer. Why don't we see what my fellow officers have to say about that when they get here?"

Nick, arms crossed over his powerful chest, smirked. "Fine. I've got all the time in the world, Detective."

The equivalent of a Mexican standoff ensued. The front door was standing wide open when Chelsea, Jack, Billie and Santana came home from the Dimera's. Surveying the scene before them, Chelsea remarked, "Jeez. And we thought things were tense at Grandma's." Their arrival coincided with that of Roman Brady and Lt. Theresa Jones.

Jones had been dispatched to the scene with her regular partner, Mike Collins. But when Captain Brady had heard the address, he had ordered Mike to stay put and had come along himself. Seeing Detective Hope Brady there, looking as pissed as she'd ever seen her, Terri was thankful for the Captain's presence.

"Hope?" Roman began tentatively. "What are you doing here?"

Spinning on her heel, Hope faced her ex-brother-in-law and the young lieutenant. "Roman. Thank God you're here." Melanie's eyes nearly popped out of her head when Hope actually summoned a tear. "I came here to pick up Ciara and take her home, and this man," One elegant finger pointed at Nick. "Had the gall to assault me. I want to press charges." When neither Roman nor Terri made a move forward, Hope barely suppressed a scream.

"Roman! Arrest him, now!"

Roman shifted his weight from one foot to the other, carefully surveying the faces of the people around him. Nick Alamain stood cool as a cucumber with his arm around that pretty fiancé of his, Carys. Nick was dressed in a t-shirt and jeans, though Carys was wrapped in a bathrobe. Obviously the two had been in bed or damn near close.

Phillip and Melanie were shoulder to shoulder with Nick and Carys, but Melanie looked as though she could commit murder at any moment. Roman had seen that steely determination before – in the eyes of Carly Manning. Billie Reed and Santana Goiri were also there, along with Jack Campbell and Chelsea. The four of them appeared interested in the scene before them, but none of them had the look of people who had just witnessed an assault, which brought him back to Hope.

He'd known Hope Williams Brady since she was a headstrong kid, and in many ways, she still was that impetuous teenager who'd caused so much trouble for Doug and Julie. She was as mad as a scalded cat, but she didn't look like a woman who'd been assaulted. _You owe me one, little brother_ , Roman thought.

"I see," Roman said, his piercing gaze never leaving his ex-sister-in-law. "What was the nature of this alleged assault?"

"He grabbed me, here." Hope pointed to her upper arms. "And he threatened me, told me to leave."

"Uh huh," Roman nodded his head sagely. "And did anyone witness this attack on Hope?"

Phillip caught on quickly and spoke up. "We were here the whole time, Roman. In fact, Melanie and I answered the door. Nick and Carys had only just come downstairs."

"That's right," said Carys. "Nick and I had just gotten into bed, when we heard a stramash coming from downstairs. We ran down here and found this one," she pointed to Hope. "Shrieking like a _ban sidhe_ and carrying on like she was being done to death."

"Yeah," Melanie picked up the story. "She knocked me down to get into the house. She demanded that we give her Ciara. We told her to leave, all of us did, but she kept insisting that she was Ciara's mother and that she was taking her whether we liked it or not."

"I see," Roman repeated. "So, Nick, did you grab Hope?"

"I did, but only to stop her from going after Melanie. She'd lunged at my sister, and I was afraid Hope would hurt her. She does, after all, have a gun," Nick pointed out reasonably.

"Okay, let me get this straight. Hope showed up here, uninvited, forced her way in and threatened to kidnap a minor child. Is that right?"

Hope, eyes wide with fury, shouted, "No! Roman, you know that Ciara is my daughter! I'm only here to take her home. Then Bo will come home to us where he belongs. I'm only here for what is mine!"

Roman, knowing that he was about to call down all kinds of hell, shook his head and motioned to Jones. Jones pulled her cuffs out and walked over to Hope, praying all the while that she didn't have her gun on her.

"Hope Brady," Roman began citing Hope her Miranda Rights. "You are under arrest for trespassing, for the assault of Melanie Kiriakis and for the attempted kidnapping of the minor child, Ciara Brady. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be held against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed to you free of charge. Do you understand these rights as I have explained them to you?"

As soon as the cold metal of the cuffs surrounded Hope's wrists, she turned into nothing less than a feral animal. She began screaming and cursing, kicking out at Lt. Jones until Roman was forced to help the young officer subdue her. Nick, Phillip and Jack all moved forward, ready to assist, but Roman fiercely shook his head, indicating that they should stay back. He already knew nothing good would come of this.

Together, he and Terri managed to get Hope into the back of the police-issue sedan, and after patting her down, Terri did find Hope's service weapon slipped into the back pocket of her jeans. She took it from her and tossed it onto the front seat. From the backseat, Hope raged against the door, hitting and fighting for all she was worth.

Roman and Terri went back into the foyer.

"I'll hold her as long as I can," Roman addressed the crowd of people in front of him. "Please tell me that Bo and Carly finalized Ciara's adoption."

"They did," Nick rushed to assure Roman. "We've got the adoption decree. I can get it for you now if you need it."

Roman shook his head. "That won't be necessary. If it's been approved by Family Court, that's all I need. Bo and Carly are due back tomorrow, right?" Eight heads bobbed in the affirmative. "Let them have tonight then. All this shit can wait until tomorrow." Roman looked back over his shoulder where Hope now sat, the picture of serenity, in the back of the car.

"I have a feeling this battle is only beginning."

"Oh my God," Billie uttered when Roman and Lt. Jones were gone, Hope in tow. "What the hell was that?"

Melanie shook her head. "I don't know. But Hope's gonna make trouble for my Mom and Bo."

"Poor Ciara," Chelsea muttered, and Jack slid his arm around her shoulders. "How is she going to handle this? I know Hope. She won't stop until she gets her way."

"It won't matter this time, baby," Billie assured her daughter. "Hope gave Ciara away, of her own free will. Carly has adopted her and is her mother in the eyes of the law. Hope can bitch all she wants. In the end, she's just whistling in the wind."

Chelsea turned her whisky eyes to Jack. "Is that true? You're a lawyer. Does Hope stand a chance of getting my sister?"

"I won't lie. Hope can sue for custody. Anyone can file a lawsuit. But the fact remains that she signed over custody of Ciara to Bo and even left written instructions for Carly to legally adopt Ciara. Your dad filed all the proper paperwork, and Carly's adoption of Ciara went through without a hitch. Hope can protest all she wants, but she'll have a hell of a time convincing a judge to give her back custody of Ciara."

"For my kid sister's sake," Chelsea said and buried her head in Jack's chest. "You'd better be right."

Agreeing among themselves that the best course of action was to let everyone get as good a night's sleep as humanly possible, the four couples headed to their beds, unaware that little eyes and ears had witnessed all of the evening's sordid events.


	34. Chapter 34

Chapter 34

Ciara huddled under her covers, hands pressed tightly over her ears as though she could silence the memory of the angry voices she'd heard. Awakened when she heard shouting coming from the living room, Ciara had crept down the hall, stopping just short of entering the living room.

She'd seen her, Hope, her old mommy, first, and Ciara had wanted her daddy and mommy badly. But they weren't at home. They had gone to the cabin for the night and wouldn't be back until tomorrow. Ciara had known this when she had gone to bed.

But now, hearing Hope screaming that she wanted to take Ciara, the little girl had been struck dumb with fear. She feared that Hope would make her leave her home, that she would never see her mommy and daddy again. Her parents weren't there to protect her, and Hope would get to her. Her heart pounded furiously inside her little chest, so loudly that she was surprised the thumping didn't give her away.

Yet no one had spotted her.

When Hope had tried to hurt Melanie, Ciara had almost run into the living room. She didn't understand the things she was feeling. She'd only known, instinctively, that her sister was in danger, and Ciara had wanted to help. She'd watched as Nick stopped Hope, and when Uncle Roman came and took Hope away, Ciara had begun to sniffle with relief. She'd almost stepped forward then, too, needing to hear from the adults in her life that everything was all right.

But something held her back. She was only a little girl, far too young to understand the repercussions of what had happened in her home, but she knew from the icky feeling in her tummy and the cold sweat beading on her forehead that things were bad.

And she had wanted her mommy and daddy.

So she'd slipped quietly back to her room and had been lying as still as possible, pretending to be asleep, when Chelsea had come to check on her. As soon as Chelsea closed the door, Ciara had sat bolt upright, intending to flee her bedroom and demand that someone take her to her parents.

Once again, fear had stopped her. She'd gotten scared that her family would be mad at her for being out of bed and eavesdropping. She knew it was wrong to listen to other people's conversations. She'd also grown frightened that her parents would be angry with her. If they got mad at her, they might send her away, too, just like Hope had done. Then what would she do? Where would she go if her parents decided they didn't want her any longer?

In the grip of childhood terror, Ciara had curled back up in her bed, quaking with silent sobs. She'd long since quit crying, but she was still shaking. She was cold and couldn't get warm, despite being under the covers. Her tummy still felt funny, like she'd eaten too many cookies. Longing to snuggle on her mommy's lap and have her daddy put his strong arms around both of them, Ciara remained in her bed, hoping the morning would come fast and with it, bring her parents home.

Carly awoke to the rich aroma of fresh coffee. Swimming her way out of the foggy sea of sleep, she sat up in bed and discovered she was alone. She didn't have to look too far for Bo; her husband stood in the open door of the cabin, sipping on his coffee and watching the sun light up the mountaintops surrounding them.

Bo was wearing his jeans, but Carly walked naked across the room and slipped her arms around Bo's waist. She pressed a kiss to his dagger tattoo and heard the smile in his voice as he said, "Good morning, Wife."

"Good morning, Husband."

Bo turned and kissed her, sharing the taste of coffee with her. The hand on her waist migrated southward to the flare of her hip as Bo gently thrust against her.

"I don't like waking up without you," Carly grumbled playfully.

"Well, you were sleeping so peacefully that I didn't want to wake you."

"I'm awake now," she whispered as she nuzzled his chest.

"So am I. What a coincidence?" Bo set his coffee cup down on the table and took Carly's hand, tugging her towards the bed. He helped her to lie down, then shucked his jeans and lay down beside her.

Bo tucked a strand of hair behind Carly's ear; then allowed his hand to wander, tracing the contours of her face, down the length of her neck. He lightly squeezed one full breast, gently teasing the hardened pebble of her nipple. Moving ever lower, his hand caressed her belly. Giving a slight push, he grinned like a fool when their daughter responded in kind.

"Good morning to you, too, little girl."

"She wants to make sure her papa knows she's awake."

"She'll have her turn soon enough to keep us both awake," Bo said as he leaned into capture a kiss. "Just sit tight, little girl. Today is about your mama and me."

Carly stretched like a cat then, further fitting her body against Bo's. "I thought last night was all about us."

"Oh, it was. Just like today is, and tomorrow will be, and every day after tomorrow; from here on out, the future is about us, Princess, and the family we're making for ourselves."

Bo's hand was resting on Carly's stomach and she laid her hand over his. "Why do you love me so much, Bo Brady? How did I get so lucky?"

"We're both lucky, Princess. But I do need to tell you something. See, I've got this problem."

"And what sort of problem might that be?"

"When I woke up this morning, I just watched you sleep for the longest time. I thought, _Christ, Brady, the most beautiful woman God ever created is next to you in bed. And she's yours._ I decided then and there that I can't live without you. I never want to see another sunrise unless you there with me. So I'm afraid you're stuck with me."

"That's funny now that you mention it because I fear I have the same problem. I've lived without you before, Bo, and I never want to feel that way again. So even if you decide to leave me," she added with a smirk. "I'll be following right along behind you. You have my heart, and as a physician I happen to know that you can't survive without a heart."

"Then we're a perfect match, Mrs. Brady. Because I have your heart, and you are my heart."

"I love you, Bo," she said and rose up over him.

Bo took hold of her hips and met her kiss half-way. "Then show me."

The sun was beginning to sink over the trees when Bo and Carly pulled into their garage. Bo slung their bag over his shoulder and holding hands, he and Carly entered the house through the kitchen, eager to see the rest of their family.

"We're home!" Bo called out. Coming into the living room, they found a very grim group awaiting them. Ciara barreled towards them, flinging her skinny arms around Bo's legs and tugging on Carly's hand so hard that Carly was afraid of shoulder dislocation.

Bo scooped up his daughter and kissed her cheek. "Hey, Little One, did you miss us?" Ciara nodded and then reached for Carly. Carly took her, but had to sit down with her. Ciara relaxed against her mother, the icky feeling in her stomach easing a bit now that her parents were home.

Bo sat down next to his wife and daughter, noticing for the first time that his brother, his mother and his father were also present. "All right," Bo said, jaw clenched in anxiety. "Who wants to tell us what the heck is going on?"

Eleven sets of eyes scrambled all around the room, trying to determine who would step up to the plate. Finally Roman cleared his throat. "Bo, last night I had to arrest Hope."

Brow wrinkled in confusion, Bo asked the obvious question. "What the hell for?"

"For trying to kidnap Ciara."


	35. Chapter 35

Chapter 35

 _Don't do anything stupid._

Carly's whispered warning to Bo as he and Roman had left the house followed Bo all the way to the station. However, when he got to the holding cells and saw Hope, he promptly lost all ability to reason.

"What the fuck are you playing at?" he roared.

Hope, momentarily startled by such a brusque greeting, quickly recovered and yelled back, "I was only trying to take my daughter back to my home so that my husband would come home, too!"

Roman, standing off to the side in case he needed to restrain Bo, rolled his eyes and had second thoughts about holding Bo back. The woman was a goddamned broken record.

Bo, hands clenched into fists, bared his teeth in a disturbing imitation of a smile. "Let's get a couple of things straight, Hope. One, Ciara is no longer your daughter. She belongs to Carly and me. Two, I am not your husband anymore. Is any of this filtering into your brain?"

"Bo, don't be ridiculous. I only signed over custody of Ciara to you so that you would realize you were still in love with me and come after me. I never meant for that slut to adopt my little girl!"

Roman did grab onto Bo, then, to prevent him tearing through the bars of the cell to get to Hope. "Settle down, little brother. Don't let her get to you."

"Stay out of this, Roman!" Hope shouted. "This is between Bo and me."

Bo jerked out of Roman's grasp and drew in a couple of deep breaths. "I'm all right, Roman. Just let me have a few minutes alone with her. Please."

Roman looked from Bo to Hope and back again before nodding once at his brother. "Behave."

Hope didn't waste a second once Roman was out of earshot. "Bo. It isn't too late. You love me, I know you do. We can fix this. You can leave Carly, and I'll take you back. You'll move back home with Ciara and me. All you have to do is promise that you'll never see Carly or her baby again. Swear to me that you'll stay away from Carly, and we can save our marriage."

Bo was struck dumb by Hope's attitude. He stood motionless, unsure of what to say to the woman in front of him.

"Bo! What are you waiting for? Carly can't possibly mean as much to you as I do! For God's sake, just tell her to leave town. She can go with all her other brats. I will not lose you, Brady, not to Billie Reed and not to Carly Manning!"

"Brady," Bo stated calmly.

"What?" Hope looked confused.

"She's Carly Brady now. We were married yesterday."

Hope flew at the cell door like a bat out of hell, screaming at the top of her lungs. "That's a lie! You can't marry her! You're my husband!"

Bo involuntarily took a step backwards as Hope railed against the metal bars. And just like before, when he had told her about Carly's pregnancy, a strange calm descended on Hope. She stopped screaming. She brushed the hair back away from her face and then folded her arms across her chest.

"Hope?" Bo asked, wondering which Hope was now in the room with him.

"Fine, you're married. Stay with Carly. Have a dozen kids with her for all I care. But I will be damned if I'll let either of you keep my daughter from me. I'll file for sole custody of Ciara, and I'll win. Then we'll see how happy you are with your new wife."

Bo smirked at Hope. "You waived your parental rights to Ciara. You can't get her back. She's happy with Carly and me, and that's where she'll stay."

"Oh, please! All I have to say is that I signed those papers under duress. Once I claim that I was coerced, no judge in the world will keep me from my daughter."

"Coerced? What the hell are you talking about now, Hope? You're the one who had Justin draw up the papers. You wrote a letter to Carly, telling her you didn't care if she adopted Ciara."

Snorting, Hope paced up and down the length of the cell. "Bo, sometimes you really are naïve. I have Justin Kiriakis by the balls. He'll do whatever I ask."

"No, actually, he won't." Bo and Hope both turned as one when Justin spoke.

"Justin! What are you doing here?" Hope began sniffling, trying to summon a few tears for Justin's benefit.

"Save it, Hope." Justin's disgust in the woman he'd foolishly thought he'd loved was evident. "I came here to help you because I thought you needed a friend. But it appears I was mistaken, concerning a number of things. I assure you, Hope, this is one mistake I do not plan on repeating."

"Fine! Both of you go! Get out of my sight. But mark my words, Bo, I will get Ciara back. Then you'll be sorry."

"Well, what do you think she meant by that?" Carly asked. Bo, Justin and Roman had finally come home and relayed their story to the others, though they had waited until Ciara was fast asleep.

"I think she meant exactly what she said. She's going to try and take Ciara from us," said Bo.

"She wouldn't kidnap Ciara, surely!" said Caroline. "No matter what Hope has done, I just can't believe she'd go that far."

"Be sensible, Caroline," Victor said. "The woman has obviously lost her mind. We should be prepared for anything. Bo, you really should consider bringing in extra security again."

Bo caught Carly's eye and shook his head. "Now, wait, let's just all keep calm. Hope said she was going to dispute Ciara's adoption. Maybe that's all she meant. Let's not jump to conclusions. Ciara has had enough trauma already. The last thing I want is for her to get scared, and having a bunch of guys follow us around would definitely unsettle her.

"I think the best thing we can do is just live our lives. Let Hope file her lawsuit. We'll fight her in court if we have to."

"I really don't think it will come to that," Justin offered. "Legally speaking, Hope doesn't have a leg to stand on. She can certainly file a suit, but I can't see a judge even going to the trouble of hearing the case. Any judge would most likely dismiss her claim out of hand."

"You're right, Justin," said Jack. "She can't prove that she was forced to give Ciara away, plus there's the letter she left for Carly. Legally, I don't think you two have anything to worry about."

"And if she tries to actually take Ciara?" Victor interjected. Years of scheming and plotting had made Victor Kiriakis suspect the absolute worst of other people. Victor knew better than anyone that desperation was a powerful motivator. "What will you and Carly do then?"

Putting his arm around Carly, Bo met his father's steely gaze. "Whatever we have to."


	36. Chapter 36

Chapter 36

Carly sat on the park bench watching Ciara play with her school friends, Landyn and Emma. It was Carly's day off, and when she had arrived at Ciara's nursery school to pick her up that afternoon, three adorable, pleading faces had peered up at her, begging for a play date in the park.

The other mothers had taken all of two seconds to kiss their children goodbye before dashing off for some mommy time. Ciara seemed to get along well with Landyn and Emma, and Carly was content to rest on the bench and watch them enjoy their afternoon in the park.

The baby performed a series of complicated somersaults in her womb, and Carly found herself turning inward, reflecting on the coming child. At twenty-eight weeks, she was in the last trimester of her pregnancy, but she was still carrying high. The baby was also in the breech position, but neither Carly nor Anne worried too much about her not turning in time for the birth.

Everyone in the burgeoning household was excited about the baby. And everyone had an opinion on a name. In fact, there was a notebook on the kitchen counter where they had taken to writing down all the different names that struck their fancies. Ava, Caitlyn, Rachel, Ellen, Lorelei, Elizabeth – the list grew with each passing day.

Victor, in some misguided effort to ingratiate himself to Carly and Bo, had sent over an ornate cradle that he had chosen for his newest granddaughter. Though Carly had to admit that it was an incredibly beautiful piece of furniture, she had scoffed at the gesture on principle because, after all, it had come from Victor Kiriakis – a man who didn't so much as brush his teeth without having an ulterior motive.

Caroline was knitting like a fiend and had created innumerable blankets, hats and booties in varying shades of pink. She had also presented Carly with the gown in which all the Brady children had been christened. "I only wish Shawn were here to welcome her," Caroline had confided tearily to Carly when giving her the gown. "I know he's watching over her from Heaven," Carly had replied.

Best of all, Carly thought privately, Hope had left them all alone. After a long and heated discussion with the rest of their family, Bo and Carly had decided to drop all charges against Hope, believing that by taking the high road, they could avoid any further unpleasant situations. Surprisingly the gesture had worked. Hope had been released from jail, and though she was still in Salem, she had stayed away from Carly and Bo, and most importantly, Ciara.

Things had been so peaceful that as Carly relaxed on the park bench and watched the children play, she felt as though she had finally come full circle in her life. When she'd broken into Bo's house last November, she would never have imagined in her most elaborate fantasies that a scant nine months later, she and Bo would be married and expecting a child. Carly found herself in one of life's perfect moments, when for just a brief span of time, one could truly say that all was right with the world.

Just then, the hair on the back of Carly's neck stood on end. Someone was behind her, of that she was certain. The years of Lawrence's abuse had left Carly with the innate ability to know when someone was watching her; Lawrence had been so fond of staring at her, for hours at a time, just before he would attack. A cold sweat broke out on her forehead. Her eyes immediately sought out the three small children in her care, who were climbing on the monkey bars and oblivious to their surroundings.

Knowing she had only one chance, Carly bolted off the bench and turned on her stalker with the vengeance of a lioness on the hunt. With strength resulting from an enormous adrenaline rush, Carly landed a well-placed kick to the groin of the burly man in the black Armani suit. While he was bent over clutching at his damaged parts, Carly took the opportunity to land a right hook to his jaw.

The man dropped like a stone, and Carly placed her high-heeled sandal across the vulnerable spot of his neck. The man looked up at her, something akin to panic in his eyes.

"Who sent you?" Carly demanded. When her prisoner failed to respond fast enough to suit her Carly pressed a bit with her foot. The man gagged and sputtered in an attempt to answer. Easing up a degree on his vocal cords, Carly repeated her question.

"Mr. Kiriakis," the man gasped. "I was hired by…Mr. Kiriakis…to protect you, Mrs. Brady!"

"Victor! Goddamn it! Does the man never listen?"

Agitated, Carly unwittingly put more pressure on her would-be protector's throat, causing him to flail his arms like a wounded bird in an attempt to get her attention.

"Oh, sorry," she muttered. Then, just before she relented completely, she fixed the man on the ground with an icy stare. "How do I know you're one of Victor's men?"

"Because it was Mr. Kiriakis who suggested a private security detail the evening after your husband's ex-wife was arrested. We've been following you for weeks, ma'am, to make certain that you came to no harm. However, it would seem that you are perfectly capable of self-preservation."

Carly glanced up in alarm at the man she had failed to notice. The man, sensing her fright, held up his hands in the universal sign of surrender. "Feel free to verify our identities with Mr. Kiriakis yourself, Mrs. Brady. And if you'll kindly release my counterpart, you have my word that we will be out of your hair, as it were, in no time."

Carly's eyes darted back and forth. She had no trouble whatsoever believing that Victor would take it upon himself to hire security guards, despite her protests that he shouldn't. Deciding that the Men in Black in front of her weren't an immediate threat, Carly sighed deeply and allowed the one on the ground to get up.

Springing to his feet, the man hurried to join his partner, warily watching Carly as though expecting her to take another swing at him. He dusted off his suit and attempted to assume the detached air of the other man. "I apologize for startling you, Mrs. Brady."

"Well, as you said, I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself. Please pass that information along to your employer." Carly turned to make her way to the children, but spun around quickly and marched back over to the two rent-a-cops. "On second thought, I'll tell him."

Entering the house through the kitchen, Bo spotted Carly at the sink. She was washing vegetables and handing them to Carys. Bo didn't say a word; only wrapped his arms around his wife and kissed her soundly on the mouth.

"Hi," Carly was startled, yet pleased, with Bo's enthusiastic greeting. "What's gotten into you?"

"I have the most amazingly sexy, beautiful and loving wife, who tied my father in knots when she gave him a piece of her mind today."

"Heard about that, did you?"

Bo nodded, smiling. "Oh, yeah, in great detail, too. I think you even impressed Henderson."

"Well, maybe that'll teach to Victor to mind his own business. Honestly, how did he think I would react to an armed stalking service?" Carly was getting riled up again; a furious flush was creeping up her neck, and Bo wanted to smooth things over before she really got irate.

"Easy, Princess," Bo said, placing his hands on her shoulders and giving them a squeeze. "I think Victor heard you loud and clear, especially when you offered to demonstrate exactly how easily you could flatten any man that threatened you. I have a feeling dear, old Dad will think twice before going behind our backs again."

"Good."

Carly slipped her arms around Bo's neck and kissed him, a chaste, soft meeting of their mouths. "So how was your day; anything exciting happen in the seedy underbelly of Salem?"

"Other than hearing about how my pregnant wife nearly took some guy's head off at the park, no. I think all the bad guys split when they heard about what you did to Victor's security guard. In fact, things were so quiet that I decided to leave a little early."

"I like early," Carly murmured before closing the distance between her and Bo as much as her swollen belly would allow. They shared another kiss before the sound of a clearing throat drew their attention from one another.

"I thought I mentioned that I was completely opposed to seeing any of my parents cavorting in dining rooms," Chelsea teased. "Please note that the dining room rule now extends to witnessing any parental cavorting of any kind."

Bo laughed at Chelsea and threw his arm around her, drawing her into a side hug. He kissed the top of her head. "Don't worry, Chels. Your stepmom and I will keep our hands to ourselves."

"Yeah, right, I think a pig just flew by the kitchen." Chelsea rolled her eyes and stepped away from her dad to help herself to a banana from the fruit bowl.

"I changed my flight out tomorrow. Jack's last meeting was canceled, so I'm taking an earlier flight so we can have some more time together before I head back to London."

Chelsea had stayed on for an additional few weeks after her mother and Santana had gone back to London. She was supposed to go back to tie up a few loose ends before moving back to Salem for a longer stint. Bo didn't think it would be too long, however, before his daughter would be making another move – to New York.

Bo liked Jack Campbell very much, but the young lawyer had moved things along with Chelsea a little faster than her father cared for. As a matter of fact, that was the main reason Bo had come home early. He'd gotten a call from Jack that afternoon that had left him feeling a bit hollow and sad. Jack had asked Bo's permission to propose to Chelsea over the coming weekend.

After a conversation that lasted for more than an hour, Bo gave Jack his blessing. The boy loved Chelsea, of that Bo was certain. He'd wished Jack luck in talking to Billie, and hung up the phone chuckling at how the well-spoken attorney had turned into a stuttering fool when reminded that he'd have to get Chelsea's mother's approval, too. Then Bo had rushed home to share the news with Carly, only to have gotten waylaid by Victor, begging Bo's forgiveness for having alienated Carly.

"Dad, where'd you go just now?" Chelsea asked, pulling Bo out his memories.

"Huh, oh, nothing, I'm just thinking. So what time do I need to have you at the airport?"

"My flight leaves at 1:00 tomorrow afternoon. Then I'll spend the rest of the weekend with Jack and fly out of JFK at 6:30 Monday morning. Mom and Santana will pick me up at Heathrow."

"Then you'll be back here in a week, right?" Carly asked. She and Carys had gone back to cooking dinner – well, Carys had gone back to cooking and Carly had gone back to washing vegetables.

"Actually I think it might be closer to two, but I'll be back as quickly as I can. I want to be back in plenty of time to get things ready for little Elizabeth." Elizabeth was one of Chelsea's suggestions for baby names.

"You mean Rachel!" Melanie shouted, coming into the kitchen.

"I like Ellen," Carys remarked, and the three girls launched into Round 55 of _Name the Baby._ Soon enough, Ciara wandered into the kitchen and put in her own choices.

The name battle continued into dinner, and Carly and Bo enjoyed every moment of the fray. Along with Chelsea's departure tomorrow, Carys and Nicholas were going back to Alamania on Sunday. Nick had left things unattended for so long already, and Carly knew that he had to go handle the affairs of state that simply couldn't be managed half a world of way.

Knowing that two of their children would be leaving, even if it was only for a brief separation, put a damper on the otherwise happy family dinner. Still, Carly told herself that they would all be back together to welcome the baby, and that was a comfort to her.

Across town, in Room 151 of the Salem Inn, a man spoke into the disposable cell phone which had been provided for him by his as yet unknown employer.

"Look, I know what you said, but I'm telling you it won't be that easy."

The man took another drag of his Winston and listened intently to the words of his employer. "All right," he said to his boss. "You're the one paying the bills. Give me another week or so to nail down the details, and I'll have the particulars for you when you call again."

"I said I'd do it, didn't I?" he protested when his skills were questioned. "It just won't be as simple as I was led to believe. But it isn't anything that I can't handle. I just need to go about it from a different angle."

Disconnecting the call, the man leaned back against the chair and swallowed a healthy serving of his whisky. He'd get it done, all right, one way or another. And then he'd get the biggest, fucking pay out of his life.


	37. Chapter 37

Chapter 37

Shawn rang the doorbell to his mother's house, simultaneously banging his fist on the frame.

"Are you sure she's even at home?" Belle asked. She and Claire were standing slightly behind Shawn with their suitcases. Shawn had decided the night before that they needed to go to Salem to check on Hope. _Never mind_ , Belle thought crossly, _that Hope hasn't even bothered to return any of our calls or messages_. Then she amended her thoughts, fussing at herself for being unkind towards her mother-in-law. She and Hope would always share a special bond because of Claire and Zach; Belle would do what she could to help Shawn help his mother.

Shawn was about to suggest that they head to the Pub when Hope flung open the door. Belle would have sworn that an annoyed look flashed across Hope's face before it was quickly replaced with joyous surprise.

Squealing Hope flung her arms around her first-born son. "Shawn! Oh, thank God you've come! I've missed you terribly!"

"Why didn't you return any of my calls, Mom? I've been worried sick."

Sniffling a bit, Hope shrugged her shoulders. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. I've just, I've been in a very dark place. With this situation with your father and Carly…" Here, Hope gave into full-bodied sobs and all but collapsed in her son's arms.

Claire, unsure what to think of this familiar stranger that was her grandmother, leaned a little closer to her mother's side. Belle sensed Claire's unease and squeezing her shoulders, gave her what she hoped was a reassuring smile.

"I'm tired, Mom," Claire complained, gaining the attention of Hope.

Pulling away from Shawn, Hope stepped closer to Claire and held out her arms. "Hi, baby! Don't you have a hug for your Gran?"

At a nudge from Belle, Claire hugged Hope. "Hi, Gran," she said, shyly. "How are you?"

Beaming at Claire, Hope brushed the little girl's golden blond hair back from her face. "I'm much better now that you're here. I've missed you so much! Now come inside. I want to hear all about your adventures you've been having sailing all around the world."

Hope and Claire went back into the house and Shawn turned to Belle, a broad grin on his handsome face. "See, Belle? I told you coming home was the right thing to do."

Belle was so damn tired at the moment she couldn't be sure of her own name, much less the emotional state of a woman she'd not seen in over a year. But she gave over to Shawn's happiness and helped him cart their bags inside. She followed Shawn upstairs to the guest bedroom where they stashed their luggage. Looking longingly at the bed, Belle groaned when Shawn tugged on her hand to go back downstairs.

"I think I'm going to shower and change. Why don't you go visit with your mom for a while, just the two of you?"

Shawn only shrugged and dashed downstairs to see his mother. Claire was showing Hope some photos on her iPad of their recent stop in Greece.

"Hey, Pumpkin, why don't you go put away your things while I have a little talk with Gran?"

Claire nodded and went upstairs without protest. Once his daughter was gone, Shawn went to Hope and took her hand in his.

"Mom, how are you really? I've been worried as hell for you."

"I didn't mean to worry you, Shawn. But things are terrible; I can't pretend otherwise."

Shawn frowned in confusion. "What is it? Has something else happened?" He knew that Hope had been arrested; Chelsea had told him as much. But he thought his father had dropped the charges.

Dabbing her eyes with the handkerchief that was always in her hand, Hope gave a bitter laugh. "What's happened? You mean besides the fact that your father has left me for a whore? He cheated on me with her in my own home. They've stolen my daughter from me; they took Ciara and won't let me see her! And to add insult to injury, your father is flaunting that slut all over town as his wife. Can you believe it? I am Mrs. Bo Brady!"

Hope was agitated so badly that she was shaking. Rage boiled in her blood when she thought of her poor husband trapped by that lying, murdering bitch.

"Mom, maybe you need to calm down," Shawn suggested. "You're getting all worked up and it won't change anything. I'm furious at Dad and Carly for what they did to you. It was wrong. But they are married now." Shawn wanted to say more, but the devastated look on his mother's face stopped him in his tracks.

Chin quivering, Hope buried her face in the back of the sofa, which was barely able to muffle her sobs. "It's so unfair, Shawn! Your father and I are meant to be together. Why is he doing this to me? Why is he punishing me? I was only trying to make him appreciate me. I wanted him to understand how I felt, what I was going through. He was supposed to come back to me, like he'd always done. And he would have, too, Shawn, if that woman hadn't come back to town." In her anxiety, Hope grabbed a hold of Shawn's arms, shaking him so hard his teeth rattled.

"It's all Carly's fault! If she'd stayed away, none of this would have ever happened! I'd still have your father and I'd still have Ciara. But Carly Manning took everything from me. It isn't fair!"

Belle was coming down the stairs and saw Hope shaking Shawn. She watched as Shawn got his arms around Hope, crushing her to him as she wept. Part of Belle wanted to shove Hope away and lash out at her mother-in-law for taking her anger out on her own son. The other half of her wanted to do the same to Shawn, angry at her husband for falling victim to yet another of his mother's temper tantrums.

Over the years Belle had watched Hope quietly manipulate Shawn, and it had always infuriated her. But ever since Zach's death, Belle had done her best to love Hope, but she'd never been able to stand it that the woman could stomp her foot and make everyone around her cater to her every whim. _Well, maybe not everyone_ , Belle thought. _Bo sure as hell seems to have finally seen the light_.

Clearing her throat rather loudly, Belle entered the living room and stood behind Hope, who was still sobbing. "Claire's asleep, Shawn," Belle informed them both. "I know things are very…stressful at the moment, but could you try and keep things quiet for our daughter's sake?"

Shawn glared at Belle, eerily reminiscent of Hope, briefly, but nodded when Belle refused to back down from her request. Hope collapsed onto the couch, blowing her nose and dabbing at her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Belle," Hope whispered. "I keep trying to make things better and I end up making the situation worse. Poor Claire, she must think her Gran is a crazy woman. I'll talk to her tomorrow and explain why I'm so unhappy."

Taking a deep breath, Belle said, "Actually that's what I came down here to tell you. Hope, I love you very much, and I want to help you in any way that I can. Shawn and I have explained to Claire that you and Bo are divorced and that Bo is remarried. Claire loves both of her grandparents equally. I would certainly hope that neither of you would badmouth the other to Claire. Claire asked see her Grandpa tomorrow, and I promised her that I'd take her. Obviously I want Claire to spend as much time as possible with both of her grandparents while we're in town. I hope you understand."

"We haven't discussed Claire visiting Dad and Carly," Shawn protested. "Hell, I'm not sure that I even want to see them."

"Well, no one said you had to go, Shawn," Belle pointed out. "You're a big boy. Do whatever you like, but I'm taking our daughter to see her grandfather tomorrow. When you feel you're ready to see your dad, I'm sure you'll let me know."

Belle yawned and stretched her arms over her head, perhaps exaggerating a bit. She leaned over and kissed Shawn; then warmly hugged Hope. "I'm exhausted. I'm going to follow Claire's lead and get some sleep."

When Belle was gone, Hope turned frantically to Shawn. "Honey, please don't let Claire near that woman. Promise me! Carly is a venomous witch. She'll only hurt Claire, you'll see."

"Mom, let's just slow down, okay. I'm not going to keep Claire from Dad. And if Carly's there, too, well, Claire will have to meet her sometime. It'll only be for a little visit, and you should know that Belle won't let Dad or Carly say anything about you to Claire."

"Just warn Belle about Carly, Shawn. I'm begging you. Belle will have to be on her guard the entire time. Carly is devious and calculating, and she'll stop at nothing to destroy me. She's already taken Ciara; what's to stop her from taking you and Claire from me, too?"

A warning sensor was triggered in the base of Shawn's brain, but he quickly dismissed the feeling. "Mom, no one will take us from you. And Belle and I will help you fight for Ciara if that's what you want to do. We won't rest until we help you get custody of her again."

Beaming gratefully, Hope placed a kiss on Shawn's forehead. "Oh, thank you, son! I knew as soon as I saw you on my doorstep that things would turn out all right. I'm so glad you've come home!"

Happy that his mother seemed to be happy for the moment, Shawn bid Hope goodnight and went to find his own bed. Hope turned off the lights downstairs and checked the lock on the front door. She slipped up the stairs quietly and into her bedroom.

Locking the door, she helped herself to a tumbler full of whisky and a handful of colorful pills. Putting on her pajamas, she got under the covers of her bed that suddenly didn't seem so lonely anymore. Now that Shawn was home to help her, Hope was ready to put her plan into action. Soon, Bo would be hers again, and then her world would return to normal.


	38. Chapter 38

Chapter 38

"Hi, Daddy!" Ciara shouted just before barreling into Bo's legs. Bo snatched up his daughter, kissing her cheek, his eyes seeking out the source of the sultry laugh that rang in his ears.

Carly was leaning against the doorframe of his office, laughing at him and Ciara. One hand rested on her hip and the other held a white paper sack courtesy of the Brady Pub. Bo settled Ciara on one hip and strode purposefully over to Carly. He wrapped his free arm around her and kissed her laughing lips.

"Mmm," Carly moaned. "Hi, baby."

"Hello, Princess. What brings my favorite girls by to see me?"

Ciara giggled and answered, "We brought you lunch, Daddy."

"I can see that, Little One, but isn't a certain someone supposed to be at school?"

Ciara only giggled again and looked to her mother for backup. "It was a free afternoon for the kids, Bo, a teacher's conference of some kind. Ciara and I thought we'd surprise you." She held the bag up, her eyes alight with mischief. "Hungry?" she purred.

Bo did not disappoint when he pulled her flush against him and whispered in her ear. "Famished."

Ciara, growing impatient with her parents' antics, put her little hands on either side of her daddy's face and effectively returned his attention to her. "Daddy, can we eat now please? My tummy is making growly sounds."

"All right, Little One, let's eat!"

Carly gave Ciara her fish and chips and then handed Bo his club sandwich. She had a salad for herself, and the three of them sat together for nearly an hour enjoying their lunches and each other's company. With the baby coming soon, Bo knew that they would have precious few opportunities for just the three of them. He suspected Carly knew it, too, and that her desire to make Ciara feel special was the driving force behind their impromptu picnic.

"Daddy, can I go say hi to Uncle Roman?" Ciara asked. She'd devoured her lunch so Bo nodded but cautioned her not to wander off too far.

When she was gone, Bo tugged Carly onto his lap. "That was really sweet of you, Princess."

"I can't have you wasting away on me now," Carly remarked. "I need you to keep up your strength. I've got plans for you this weekend."

"Oh, really? And just what do you have in mind?" Bo leaned closer and nuzzled the tender skin behind her ear.

"Painting."

Bo ceased all efforts to nuzzle.

"Painting, huh, what? Painting what? What?"

Carly couldn't help but laugh at the adorably confused look on her husband's face. "Aw, painting the nursery wasn't exactly what you were thinking about, was it, sweetheart?"

Bo shook his head, practically pouting.

Chelsea, Nick and Carys were all due back on Sunday, and Bo, realizing that this might be the last chance he and Carly would get to have the house to themselves, had plans to capitalize on it. Unbeknownst to Carly, Bo had arranged for Ciara to spend the night with his mother. He'd also had a little brotherly chat with Phillip that morning, telling him to find somewhere else for Mel and him to be for the evening.

He'd planned on surprising Carly tonight, but his plans for marital seduction were derailing before his eyes. As Carly chatted on about color wheels and trim and wall murals, Bo realized that he'd better do something fast.

"We'll hire someone to paint the nursery!" he blurted. "Please?"

Carly looked at him strangely before answering. "Bo, I know we could, but I really want to do it ourselves. It's important to me."

"Princess, you know I can't say no to you when you look at me like that," Bo protested.

Carly brushed a ghost of a kiss against Bo's mouth and whispered, "I'll make it up to you, I promise."

Thinking that if he started painting now, he could probably finish by sunset and still have time to thoroughly ravage his wife, Bo nodded agreeably. "Done; but let's get started now."

He all but shoved Carly to her feet, grabbed their things and pulled Carly out into the middle of the busy squad room. He scanned the room for Ciara, only to find engrossed in conversation with two of the people he least expected to see in Salem.

"What the...Belle? Claire?" Bo called out. At the sound of her name, Claire's head lifted and her face broke into a beautiful smile.

"Grandpa!" She shouted and ran towards Bo, who caught her mid-leap.

Bo squeezed his granddaughter tightly almost afraid she was going to disappear. "Honey, I'm so glad to see you! When did you get into town?"

"Mom and Dad and I got here last night. We spent the night with Gran. But Mom promised I could come see you today." Then Claire noticed the lady standing behind her grandpa. She realized that this was Carly, the lady her parents had told her about. Though her dad had looked mad when he was talking about Carly, her mom had cautioned Claire about giving people the benefit of the doubt. Sticking out her hand, Claire said in her most grown-up voice, "Hi! You must be Carly. I'm Claire, and I'm pleased to meet you."

Carly automatically shook the little girl's hand and found herself responding to Claire's toothy grin and warm personality. Claire was Belle made over, Carly caught that instantly. But there was something just under the surface, the tilt of her head or the way her mouth curved, that reminded Carly of a very young Shawn Douglas.

"Hello, Claire, it's very nice to meet you, too," Carly replied.

Bo put Claire back down and remarked over how tall she'd gotten. Carly had to agree that for a nine year-old, she was tall for her age. Of course, knowing both of her grandfathers, Carly had no trouble seeing where the child had gotten that particular trait.

"Carly?" Belle's soft voice pulled Carly out of internal commentary. The blonde smiled warmly at Carly and then surprised her with a hug. "That's from my mother," Belle explained when they separated.

"She and my father both send their love and congratulations to you and Bo."

"How are your parents?" Carly asked. "I'd so love to see them again."

"Well, you might get the chance. Mom alluded that they might drop in on you and Bo one day so look out. Their liable to turn up on your doorstep in the middle of the night if the mood strikes them," Belle said with a laugh.

"That would be perfectly all right with us. Our home is always open. And that invitation extends to you and Shawn and Claire, by the way, I hope you know that."

Belle's smile turned into a grimace. "I'm not too sure that Shawn will want to accept that invitation, not just yet anyway."

"My son still has a chip on his shoulder?" Bo inserted himself into the conversation, Claire and Ciara having gotten absorbed in Claire's iPad.

Belle nodded. "And you how he gets around Hope."

"I'm surprised you were able to bring Claire to see us."

"Well, I'm stubborn in my own right, when I have to be."

Bo hugged his daughter-in-law gratefully. "Don't let him throw his fits, little girl. His head's full of rocks a lot of the time, and he needs you to keep him straightened out."

"I'm trying, Bo, but I'm afraid that Hope already has him brought round to her way of thinking. She isn't over you, and she hates you with a fiery passion." Belle directed this last bit at Carly, who only rolled her eyes.

"I'm no stranger to people hating me. As long as she leaves us alone, she can hate me for all eternity."

They were interrupted in their conversation by a young officer looking for Bo, a nondescript older man behind the officer.

"Commissioner, this man said he needs to see you," the officer said and then stepped aside.

"Commissioner Brady, Dr. Carly Manning Brady?"

Bo and Carly looked at one another, confusion on both their faces.

"Yes, that's us," Bo answered.

The man handed a large envelope to Bo, who took it automatically.

"You have been served."


	39. Chapter 39

Chapter 39

Belle entered Hope's house, slamming the door in her wake, causing Hope and Shawn to look up in surprise.

"Belle, what's the matter with you? Why are you…" Shawn trailed off when he saw nothing but anger in his wife's blue eyes.

"I'll deal with you in a minute," Belle informed Shawn before spinning around to face Hope.

"I have no doubt that you're hurt by the fact that Bo no longer loves you. If I were in your shoes, I'd be crushed. But what you did today was just mean. Ciara was terrified after the little stunt you pulled! Bo and Carly had to take her home, she was so upset."

Hope was the picture of innocence. "Belle, I'm only doing what I believe is best for my little girl. She should be reunited with me, her true mother. I would never do anything to hurt my daughter."

Disgusted, Belle snorted. "You gave away your child in some misguided attempt to make Bo come back to you. You gambled with Ciara and you lost. You did all this, Hope! No one took Ciara from you."

Shawn attempted to intervene, seeing how upset his mother was growing and not liking it at all. "Belle, please, you don't know what you're talking about. Don't yell at Mom. None of this is her fault."

"That's right," Hope said. "You have no idea what kind of woman Carly Manning is, Belle. She's a viper! She ruins everything and everyone she touches. I can't allow her to destroy Bo and Ciara, too! It's up to me to save them from her because they're so wrapped up in her, they can't see her for what she is."

"What she is?" Belle repeated. "And what exactly is that supposed to mean? The woman I met today was friendly and caring. She's completely in love with her husband and she dotes on her daughter. Ciara was so happy when she was telling Claire and me all about Carly. And Carly was the one that Ciara turned to when she overheard us talking about your little lawsuit. Face it, Hope, you blew it. Maybe you didn't mean for things to end this way, but they did. And if you really want to do what's best for Ciara, then you'll back off. I was with Bo and Carly all of ten minutes. It only took me five to realize what a loving family they've built for Ciara. Leave her alone, leave them alone. Because that's the only prayer you have of getting Ciara back. If you try and take her, Ciara will hate you forever."

Fuming, Hope shouted, "Who are you to tell me how to be a mother? You didn't even know that Shawn was Claire's father! You're as bad as Carly, and you aren't good enough for my son or my granddaughter!"

Shocked at Hope's outburst, Belle felt angry tears welling up in her eyes. Hope's words cut deep. Belle swallowed the venomous response aching to come out and instead turned to Shawn.

"I love you with all my heart, and because I love you, I'm going to go upstairs now and pack up some things for Claire and me."

"Where are you going?" Shawn asked.

"I have enough family who will welcome us for a few nights, including your father and stepmother who've offered us a room whenever we're in town. But for now, I'm going to collect Claire from Sami's and I'll make a decision from there. I'll call you later." She was up the stairs before Shawn could blink.

Belle spoke softly, but there was no mistaking the determination in her eyes. Shawn knew that she would not be swayed. What he didn't know was what he should do. Clearly, his mother needed him now, but at what cost? He loved his mother, but could he allow his desire to help her take precedence over his own marriage?

"Good God, will this never end?" Hope shouted. "Do you see now what I'm up against, Shawn? That woman will stop at nothing until she takes everything I have! She's gotten Belle on her side. Didn't I tell you to warn Belle about Carly?"

"Mom, will you just stop? Just be quiet for a minute, please. I'm trying to think."

Hope, aghast that Shawn was not immediately agreeing with her, sank into a chair. _Shawn has to be on my side_ , Hope thought. After all, he was her last link to Bo. She'd been counting on Shawn for assistance during the trial, but now that Belle had taken up Carly's cause, Hope could see that her son was waffling between loyalty to his mother and loyalty to his wife.

Before Hope could further question Shawn, Belle came walking down the stairs toting a medium-sized suitcase. She went to Shawn and putting her arms around, kissed him tenderly.

"I love you, Shawn, more than my own life. I'll probably stay with Sami tonight. I'll call you in the morning."

Squaring her shoulders, Belle turned to Hope. "I apologize for yelling at you earlier. I let my temper get the better of me. But I really do believe that you should rethink what you're about to do, Hope. Ciara may very well be better off with you. But if you rip her away from what she's come to see as her family, then I can promise you that you'll only bring her harm. She'd be emotionally and psychologically scarred for life. Please just think it over."

An icy stare accompanied by silence was Hope's only response.

"Well, then," Belle remarked and headed for the door.

Shawn, shocked into movement at last, called out to Belle. "Wait!" He ran to her and took the bag from her. "You don't have to stay anywhere else, Belle. This is ridiculous. Just calm down and go get Claire. Everything will be fine, you'll see."

Belle smiled sadly. She felt for Shawn, but she refused to coddle him any longer where Hope was concerned. "Honey, your mom has a lot of issues. She needs to face her problems instead of blaming everyone else for her own mistakes. I'm not going to subject our daughter to the kind of instability that Hope just displayed. I don't want Claire to associate that kind of behavior with her grandmother."

"Oh, but it'll be okay for her to go see my dad and Carly and let them run my mother down!" Shawn exclaimed.

"They never said a bad word about Hope, Shawn, and I don't think they will. Not even when they got the papers and poor Ciara was so afraid that Hope was going to take her away; Bo and Carly just comforted Ciara as best they could and they didn't say anything at all that would tear Hope down in Ciara's eyes. Can't you see? Ciara is terrified of living with your mother. That speaks volumes to me, Shawn, and it should to you, too."

Shawn angrily shook his head. "No, Mom would never do anything at all to hurt Ciara. It's all a bunch of lies that Dad and Carly fed her, that's all."

"Shawn, please, just come with me for a little while to see Ciara. Talk to your dad and Carly. Please. Just give them a chance, that's all I'm asking."

"And I'm asking you to give my mom a chance, Belle. This has all been a nightmare for her and everyone has turned against her. I can't walk away from her, not now."

Crying now, Belle nodded slowly and kissed Shawn. "Then you know where to find Claire and me. We love you."

Shawn watched her drive away, a cold, hollow space forming in his heart. He went back inside where Hope immediately latched onto him. "You're too good for her, baby. But don't worry; I'll help you get Claire back, just as soon as things are back to normal with your father and me."

The cold spot in Shawn's heart sparked white-hot with frustration. Though physically bearing a marked resemblance to his father, Shawn's temper came from his mother.

"Mom! Will you just shut up?"

Hope recoiled as though Shawn had slapped her. She could not believe that her own son was treating her in such a way. Shawn grabbed his jacket and made for the door.

"Shawn, wait! Where are you going? When will you be back?"

Hope clawed at Shawn's arm, and Shawn had to push her a bit to get her off of him. He had to get out; he had to get away, that was all he knew. His temper was screaming for him to wreak serious havoc on something or someone and he wanted to be well away from everyone he cared for when it was unleashed.

"Mom, I don't know. I'm going for a drink somewhere," he mumbled and began to run.

Hope could only stare after him, weeping. Soon, though, her tears gave way to seething fury. She slammed her own door, biting her fist to muffle her screams. Then remembering she was alone, Hope threw herself on the floor, screaming and crying like a slowly dying animal.

She had no recollection of how long she had lain on the floor. She only knew that the sun was no longer spilling through the window pane; apparently quite a lot of time had passed. Her eyes were swollen and her nose raw from her crying jag. Slowly rising to her feet, Hope went upstairs and took a long, hard look in the mirror.

She barely recognized the woman reflected back at her. Where once she had been happy and beautiful with laughing eyes and a smiling mouth that her husband loved to cover with his own, her face was now pinched with anger. Her eyes were dull with sadness, her mouth drawn.

 _This is all your fault, Carly,_ Hope thought. _If it weren't for you, then I'd have my husband where he belongs._

Taking up her hair brush, Hope began rhythmically pulling the brush through the tangled knots of her hair until it lay shiny and smooth once more. Then she began to repair her face. Satisfied with her appearance, Hope went over to the loose floorboard just under the edge of her bed. She had originally pried the board loose when her father and Julie had been pilfering through the house, searching for evidence of alcohol and drugs. Lifting away the board, she retrieved the scotch she kept hidden there. The amber liquid blazed a trail of fire down her already stinging throat. She took a small handful of pills and chased them with another gulp of liquor.

Hope sat down on the bed, carefully weighing her options. The lawsuit for Ciara's custody was pending. All Hope had to do was paint Carly as the murdering Jezebel she was. Once Carly's name and character were sufficiently sullied, Hope had little doubt that she would be granted custody of Ciara.

"And once I have Ciara, Bo will follow," Hope assured herself.

But what about the baby? Hope's subconscious wondered. Carly is having Bo's baby.

With a shake of her head, Hope continued her one-sided conversation. "Bo loves his children, but I can deal with Carly and I can certainly deal with a baby."

The jealous hatred that had blossomed the moment Hope learned of Carly Manning's existence burgeoned instantly into a raging virus, infecting every part of Hope's heart and mind. Oh, yes, she could deal easily with Carly, of that she was certain. She'd go the legal route first, though, and if that failed, well, there was always Plan B.


	40. Chapter 40

Chapter 40

"I love you, too, Dad, and give my love to everyone else," Chelsea told her father just before hanging up.

"Jack, I'm sorry I have to leave so soon, but my parents need me," Chelsea told her fiancé.

Jack pulled Chelsea to him, holding her close. "Don't apologize, Chels. I just have to wrap up this case, and I'll catch the first flight to Salem on Wednesday. I've already spoken to your dad, but please remind him and Carly not to worry. Legally, Hope doesn't have a prayer."

Chelsea nodded, but worry was already settling in her amber eyes. "Hey," he said, gently tracing her face with his fingertips. "That goes for you, too."

"I'm trying, Jack, but I am so mad right now, I could spit nails! I can't believe Hope is pulling a stunt like this. She's out of her mind, I'm telling you."

"Settle down, baby, please. You're going to get arrested if you don't keep your voice down." Jack eyed the security officers who had indeed begun paying closer attention to them when Chelsea had shouted.

"I'll behave," Chelsea muttered in a tone that Jack knew meant she wouldn't behave at all.

"Do your best, please. I don't want to have to post bail for you as soon as I get in town." Then he kissed her, deep and slow, relishing the feel of her body against his.

"I love you, Jack,"

"I love you, too."

Trying to not to cry as Jack lifted their joined hands and kissed her ring finger where she proudly wore her engagement ring, Chelsea gave him a blinding smile and set off to catch her plane.

Nick wasn't certain exactly what Carys just said, but the intent behind the words was clear. He knew that _deamhan_ meant devil; what he didn't know was if Carys was saying Hope was the devil or that she wished Hope would go to the devil. Either way, Carys had a wicked tongue when she spoke Gaelic, and she was using it to curse Hope Brady to the ends of the earth and back again.

The distressing call that had come from his mother had ended with Nick alerting his pilot that they would be leaving Scotland tomorrow morning and had sent Carys into a maelstrom of swearing. Nick was just trying to stay out of her way lest that dagger-sharp tongue turn in his direction.

"Who does that godforsaken, wretch of a woman think she is?" Carys asked as she took out her frustrations on a log in the fireplace. Nick didn't answer, but was grateful that she had at least switched back to English.

"What kind of woman throws away her daughter in a ploy to trap a man who no longer loves her and then has the nerve to drag decent people like your mother and Bo through the mud with a ridiculously trumped up lawsuit? And that poor child! Lord in heaven, what little Ciara must be going through. It isn't right, Nicky!"

In truth, Nick would like nothing more than to have Hope Brady thrown into the deepest, darkest prison cell in Alamania. It unnerved him how easily he could see himself accomplishing that task. He wanted his mother to be left in peace, and Hope would be a constant threat to Carly's happiness. The ruthlessness of Lawrence Alamain was ever-present in Nick's mind and it would be too easy to give into that side of his nature. Throwing off the darkness once more, Nick concentrated on settling his enraged fiancé.

He took Carys by the shoulders, forcing her to stand still. Carys wore her heart on her face, and Nick gently traced the worry lines that crinkled up between her red-gold brows. "It'll be all right. We're going back to Salem, and we'll help my mother and Bo fight Hope's latest temper tantrum." He hoped he sounded more confident than he felt.

"Jack's coming, too, and Mom said he and Justin were already putting together an iron-clad argument against Hope's claims. We just need to stay strong for Mom. She doesn't need the added stress right now, not with the baby coming so soon."

"I will be the soul of tranquility while around your mum, Nicky. But should my path cross with Hope, I will not be held responsible for my actions!"

"Let's try and contain that Highland, warmongering blood of yours, please. I have no desire to spend my honeymoon in the visitation room of a prison just because my fiancé decided to murder my mother's husband's ex-wife."

Carys smiled a bit and said, "I'll try, but we Scots are a bloody lot. I am descended from a long line of vengeance-seeking clansmen, after all."

"Oh, I know, but I don't think we'll get your great-great grandfather's claymore through Customs," Nick remarked, eying the wickedly curved blade, nearly four feet in length, currently hanging in a place of honor over the fire place of the great hall in Carys' ancestral home.

They had stopped for a long weekend in Edinburgh on their way back to Salem. After his mother's call, they were cutting the visit with Carys' grandmother short.

"Maybe not Great- Great Grandfather Hugh's sword, but I don't think Customs will bat an eye at Great-Great Grandmother Jocasta's book of spells," Carys said with a wink. "Jocasta was a conjure woman, you know. It was said that she had the Sight. Most of the women in my family have it, or so Granny says."

Nick got his arms around Carys and pulled her to him, the ends of her glorious mane of hair brushing his fingertips. "What about you, my love? Do you have the Sight?"

Carys focused on a spot somewhere over Nick's shoulder, a gleam in her azure eyes. The gleam softened a bit and Carys was quiet. Then she turned to Nick and lifted her lips to his.

"I see you, Nicholas. I see you."

After the sucker punch they had received at the police station, Bo and Carly had headed straight for home with Ciara, who was so upset over the prospect of leaving her parents that she had promptly thrown up in the back seat of the car.

Bo and Phillip were cleaning out the car, and Carly was giving Ciara a bath. Ciara had calmed down a bit, but Carly was deeply worried about the emotional and psychological strain that a custody fight would have on her daughter.

"I don't want to leave you and Daddy," Ciara said from amid a mountain of bubbles.

"We don't want you to leave, either, Munchkin," Carly assured her. "And Daddy and I will do everything in our power to keep you with us."

"You won't let Mommy Hope take me?"

"Of course we won't, Little One," Bo answered from the open doorway.

"Daddy, I'm sorry I got sick all over the car." Ciara's eyes were wide as she waited on her father's response.

Bo gave her a gentle smile and knelt down next to Carly at the side of the tub. "Don't worry, Little One. I took care of it. I'll always take care of you."

Ciara smiled and went back to playing with her toys. Bo leaned against the side of the tub and tugged on Carly's arm until she came to rest between his legs. He placed their joined hands on the mound of her belly and rubbed his face against her hair.

"How's Mama doing?"

"Mama is tired. What about Papa?"

Bo groaned and swept aside the length of Carly's hair so that he could kiss her neck. "Papa is tired, too, but he's grateful to be home with Mama and his babies. I talked to Chels while I was cleaning the car. She's headed this way. Jack won't be coming until next Wednesday, and I told her to wait, but she's stubborn."

"Uh huh, just like her father; loyal, too. It's only natural that she'd want to be here for us. Nicky and Carys are coming, too. They're leaving Edinburgh in the morning."

Bo began laughing then, and Carly couldn't figure out what on earth could possibly be funny. Seeing the questioning look on her face, Bo explained his previous plans for their weekend.

"Well, once upon a time, we said we wanted a houseful of kids," Carly mused. "It seems we got our wish."

"I guess we did, Princess. I guess we did."


	41. Chapter 41

Chapter 41

Saturday morning dawned bright and cool. At some point in the night, Ciara had crawled into bed with Bo and Carly. Rather than cart her back to her own bed, Bo had situated her between him and Carly, pulling the covers up to keep his little family warm against the chill that had overtaken the room during the night. Fall had definitely arrived.

The hardwood floors were cold beneath his feet as he made his way to the bathroom. He hurried to dress for the day, wanting to get to the store and back home again before Carly and Ciara woke up. Chelsea had gotten home around 9:00 last night, and he'd run his little plan by her, Phillip and Melanie. The three of them had agreed to help, and with Nick and Carys arriving later today, Bo thought they'd have no trouble getting the nursery painted like Carly had wanted.

Bo arrived at Lowe's just as they opened. Carly had already chosen two complementing shades of pink so Bo only had to place his order and wait for the paint to be mixed. While waiting, Bo called his mom to get assistance with his next set of supplies – food.

"Hey, Ma, it's me."

"Bo! Oh, thank God. I've been up half the night. How are you, son? Are Carly and Ciara all right?"

"Ma, we're fine. We're just trying to reassure Ciara and not upset her anymore than she already is. That's why I'm calling, actually. We're painting the nursery today and I was hoping you'd come join us."

"I'd love to! What time are you starting?"

"I'm picking up the paint now. Carly doesn't know we're going ahead with it, though, so I left her and Ciara asleep. I figured I'd surprise her when I got home."

"I tell you what, son. Swing by and pick me up on your way back home. I'll cook breakfast for you all."

"Thanks, Ma. That'd be great. See you in about half an hour."

"Sir," the clerk called just as Bo hung up the phone. "Your order is ready."

"Thanks, man," Bo said. Then he loaded the paint and supplies into his shopping cart and headed to the check-out lane.

Thirty minutes later, Bo had picked up his mother and they headed back to Bo and Carly's. They entered the kitchen to find Chelsea, Melanie and Phillip all drinking coffee in the kitchen.

"Hey, Grandma," Chelsea greeted Caroline.

"Hello, sweetheart, now let's have a look at that ring."

Chelsea happily thrust out her left hand as Caroline gushed over Jack's taste in jewelry. "This was actually Jack's grandmother's ring. When his grandparents got married, they couldn't afford wedding rings. So when Jack's grandfather won his first case the first thing he bought was a wedding ring for his wife. Jack's grandmother gave it to Jack's dad and his dad passed it onto him.

"And one day you'll pass it along to your son for his bride-to-be," Caroline surmised.

"That's right." Chelsea was radiant when she spoke, and the anxiety that had clouded Bo's heart since he learned of Jack Campbell's intentions towards Chelsea receded just a bit. Chelsea seemed…settled, yes, that was it. She finally seemed to have found her place in the world, something that had eluded her for most of her life.

"So what's in the bags, Caroline?" Phillip asked, inadvertently changing the subject from weddings to food. "Are we going to get a free breakfast out of this paint job?"

"Seeing as you can't work on empty stomachs I thought I'd better feed you all."

Phillip helped Bo carry the paint and supplies to the room Carly had chosen for the nursery, leaving Caroline to contend with breakfast. Caroline began mixing up dough for biscuits while Chelsea started bacon and sausage in an electric skillet.

"Is there anything that I can do?" Melanie asked. Though her culinary skills left quite a lot to be desired she still wanted to be helpful.

"Why don't you peel and dice the potatoes?" Caroline indicated the small bag of potatoes on the counter. "You'll also find an onion and bell pepper in there. I'll show you how to make Potatoes O'Brien, the Brady way."

Bo and Phillip wandered back to the kitchen where Phillip helped himself to his second cup of coffee while Bo poured his first. Soon the kitchen was filled with the delicious scents of one of his mother's full breakfasts in the making. Chatter over inconsequential topics surrounded Bo, and he took in the moment to savor as one of complete peace in the midst of what promised to be a hell of a storm on the horizon.

Upstairs in her bedroom, Carly was dreaming. Not surprisingly she was dreaming of food. What was surprising was that she could smell it. Her dreaming brain managed to process the message from her empty stomach that she needed to wake up and find food for real, and Carly began the assent into consciousness. She was aided in her journey by a little hand on her arm and a voice in her ear whispering, "Mommy, mommy, wake up."

Carly opened her eyes against the light of the morning to find Ciara looming over her. "I smell bacon," Ciara said without preamble.

Carly sniffed. "I smell it, too."

Ciara smiled. "I'm hungry. Let's go see who's making breakfast."

Carly nodded and slowly sat up. She made a quick trip to the bathroom and threw on her robe. The house was chilly this morning. Ciara, bouncing around with the natural energy of childhood, tugged Carly out the door and down the stairs. They stopped briefly in Ciara's room to get her own robe and slippers. Hand in hand, they walked into the kitchen where they were greeted by most of the family.

"What's all this?" Carly asked as she slipped onto Bo's lap.

"This? Well, I wanted to surprise you, but you beat me to it," said Bo. "My plan was to bring you breakfast in bed and then tell you that we're going ahead with our original plans to paint the nursery today."

Carly couldn't hold back her smile. "We are? But, Bo, are you sure we should…"

"What, live our lives? Plan for our family's future? Of course, we should, Princess, and that is exactly what we're going to do."

Not trusting herself to speak, Carly settled for a nod.

"Let's go on with the first order of business, then," said Caroline. "Breakfast is ready."

They all filled their plates and sat down at the long dining room table to eat. By the time the meal was finished, only crumbs were left of the huge breakfast that Caroline had prepared. Carly was so full she didn't know how on earth she could move again, much less paint.

Bo, groaning, pushed back from the table and said, "Come on, Phillip. You and I will put down the drop cloths and get started." Phillip grumbled about physical labor after eating so much, but he followed Bo nonetheless. Carly and Caroline began taking dishes into the kitchen.

"Carly, dear, you and Ciara go on and get dressed. The girls and I will take care of this mess."

Deciding not to argue with her mother-in-law, Carly and Ciara set off in search of appropriate attire, in other words, something that could be discarded at the end of the day if necessary.

Fifteen minutes later, everyone gathered in the nursery and set to work. No one mentioned the custody battle or Hope, and Ciara relaxed completely for the first time since her fears of being taken from her parents were validated. As a matter of fact the atmosphere could only be described by an outside observer as nothing short of jovial.

About an hour into painting, Belle and Claire turned up and volunteered their services; Belle as an extra set of hands and Claire as a babysitter-companion for Ciara. The two girls bounded off to Ciara's room together leaving the adults free to work.

By the time lunch rolled around, the room was mostly finished. The walls had been painted and only the trim and baseboards remained, plus some accenting that Carly wanted to add on one wall. They all broke for lunch in the backyard so that the little girls could have some outdoor time.

Carly was stretched out on a chaise lounge, her bare feet in Bo's lap, the baby kicking lazily in her womb. "I think we may have a gymnast on our hands," Carly remarked as Bo massaged her slightly swollen feet.

"At the very least, she'll be a dancer," Carly amended as the baby seemed to perform a Venetian Waltz.

"Speaking of the baby," Belle began. "Do you have any names picked out?"

Melanie jumped up and dashed into the house, presumably to retrieve the notebook with all the baby names in it. Sure enough she came out with the book a few minutes later and thrust it at Belle.

"We all had different ideas for her name, so finally we started keeping a notebook full of suggestions. Feel free to add your own."

Belle looked through the list which contained no less than 100 names for girls. "Wow! Looks like you've covered all the bases."

"Uh huh," said Carly. "We've got family names, names from movies, books, poetry, but nothing that we've settled on yet."

Belle tapped the pen thoughtfully against her chin before scribbling down a few names. Before she could elaborate on her offerings, Claire came running up to her.

"Mom, have you heard from Dad?"

Belle shook her head. "Not yet, bug. I'm sure he's just busy with your Gran, that's all."

At the mention of Hope, Claire made a face. Then shrugging her shoulders, she turned and ran back to the swing set with Ciara. Once Claire was out of earshot, Bo cleared his throat.

"Belle, honey, you know we love seeing you and Claire, but if it's going to cause a rift between you and Shawn… "

Belle held up her hand to silence Bo. "Don't even say it. Shawn knows where I stand. I'm perfectly willing to help Hope, but not at the expense of my personal integrity. Hope is unbalanced right now, and as I explained to my hard-headed husband, I don't want Claire to witness that kind of behavior.

"You and Carly could be bashing Hope in retaliation for what she's doing. God knows she hasn't stopped running her mouth about the two of you, but I have yet to hear either of you do so. That's why we're here. It isn't about who's right or wrong; it's about behavior. Quite frankly, Claire doesn't need any examples on how to be a brat."

"Still, we don't want our problems to bleed over into your marriage, Belle. We don't want to be the cause of friction between you and Shawn," Carly gently explained.

Belle emphatically shook her head. "The only ones who can cause problems for our marriage are Shawn and me. Shawn knows how I feel and he knows why I won't stay at Hope's right now. If she'll agree to quit making defamatory statements about the two of you, then I'll be happy to allow Claire to spend time with her."

Melanie snorted. "I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for that to happen. They'll need snow skis in hell before Hope quits trash-talking my mother."

"Melanie," Carly warned.

"I know, I know," Melanie muttered. "Don't badmouth the bitch."

"Melanie!" Bo and Carly shouted together, but Melanie only rolled her eyes.

"Hey, I didn't mention any names. I could've been describing any number of the women in this town."

"Little ears," Carly said through gritted teeth. She nodded her head towards the little girls climbing on the jungle gym.

Melanie sagged back in chair, relenting. "Sorry," she said glumly.

"All right," said Caroline as she pushed away from the patio table. "Enough unpleasant talk; that room isn't going to finish painting itself, you know."

"Come on, Grandma," Chelsea whined. "We should wait on Nick and Carys. Their plane should be landing in an hour or so. I'd hate to deprive them of the satisfaction of contributing to our baby sister's new digs."

"Ma's right," said Bo. "Let's get this thing finished. My beautiful wife and I have plans later this evening."

"We do?" Carly asked, clearly confused.

"Yep, we're going out for the evening."

"We are?" She was still not following Bo's train of thought.

"Yes," Bo insisted. "You're going to stay put and keep your swollen feet propped up. We're going to get the baby's room finished. You can keep an eye on the girls while they play."

Bo led the way into the house, the others trailing behind him. Ciara and Claire ran tirelessly around the back yard, giggling and shouting at one another. There was a distinct nip in the air, but on the sun-warmed patio, Carly was quite comfortable, until she realized she had to pee.

Struggling to her feet, Carly called out to the girls, "I'll be right back, girls!"

"Mommy, may we have more juice, please?"

Carly nodded and headed for the half-bath just off the living room. Finished with that annoying task, she washed her hands and went to the kitchen to grab two juice boxes from the fridge. By the time she returned to the patio, the girls were seated on the ground, heads bent over a piece of paper. Carly had no idea what it was, but Claire was saying something to Ciara, whose little head shook furiously in defiance.

A sudden gust of wind rattled the glass doors leading to the house, and the girls looked up in surprise. Ciara hastily folded the paper and stuffed it into her pocket; then she and Claire ran over for their juice.

"Thank you, Mommy," Ciara said sweetly.

"Thanks, Carly," said Claire.

"You're welcome." Carly lowered herself into her lounge chair, grateful for the soft padding that surrounded her. "So what were you two whispering over?"

Blue eyes met brown as the girls glanced fearfully at one another. Claire nodded her head towards Carly, but Ciara only glared at the older girl. "Nothing, Mommy," Ciara assured her, but she refused to meet Carly's eyes.

After a beat, Claire added, "It was nothing."

Carly decided to let the matter drop; after all, secrets between little girls could hardly be earth-shattering. The girls quickly finished their juice and Ciara asked Carly to push them on the swings. Happy to do so, even though she knew Bo would fuss for not staying off her feet, Carly spent the remainder of the afternoon playing with her daughter and granddaughter. All thought of mysterious notes fled her mind completely.


	42. Chapter 42

Chapter 42

"Are you sure we shouldn't head back home?" Bo asked Carly for what seemed like the hundredth time that evening.

Carly shook her head and then snuggled closer against Bo. After their dinner, Carly had wanted to walk down by the waterfront. The night sky was crystal clear, and the breeze off the river made it just that more delicious to cuddle in her husband's embrace.

"I'm off my feet." Carly refuted Bo's protest before he could even voice it.

"All right, Princess, all right." In truth, Bo was happy to sit on what he thought of as "their" bench, but he really wanted to get his beautiful wife home. Belle had taken Ciara with her and Claire back to Sami's. He knew the others would keep themselves occupied and out of sight. It wasn't his original plan of having the two of them being completely alone in the house, but it was better than nothing.

"It's just so peaceful here," Carly whispered. "This place is so important to us, Bo, and I want it to be special for our daughter, too."

Carly gasped suddenly and lifted her head so that she could look Bo in the eye. "We should get another boat."

"What?"

"Bo, you loved the boat. You love to be on the water, and I loved to be on it with you. I think we should get a boat." Carly's smile was infectious, and Bo found himself grinning from ear to ear.

He loved the idea of owning another boat. God, he'd missed the water. Not so much living on a boat, but just having the option of taking a sail for the day or even a weekend. And the idea of a boat that was his and Carly's, well, that made the notion almost irresistible.

"It would be great to be able to take Ciara and the baby out for weekend cruises," Bo mused, already picturing such outings in his head.

"Yes, and I'm sure we could persuade Melanie and Phillip to baby-sit so you and I could have a weekend out on the water for ourselves."

"Mmm, I like the sound of that even better," Bo muttered moving in for a kiss. Carly met him halfway, her arms winding around his neck for better leverage.

"Princess," Bo whispered in between kisses. "Do you think that maybe we could go home now?"

"Take me home, Mr. Brady."

Bo was rather proud of that fact that he made it home without running any red lights. Caution lights, yes, but he was more than halfway through each intersection before the lights turned red. They stumbled into the kitchen from the garage, Carly holding her black pumps in her hand. Bo gave thanks that they encountered no one on their path to their bedroom.

His white dress shirt was half unbuttoned and hanging out if his pants. One strap of Carly's evening gown was off her shoulder, and her lipstick was long gone. Bo had loosed her hair from its clip so that it fell in curls down her back and shoulders.

Now, inside the privacy of their bedroom, Bo fisted his hands in those fragrant locks, drawing Carly's mouth to his. He tasted the desert they'd shared – chocolate ganache – and the few sips of coffee she'd sipped from his cup. Underneath it all was something uniquely her. Her taste and scent flooded his senses, making every part of his mind and body ache for her.

Carly's hands were not idle; she carefully undid each button of Bo's shirt, purposely drawing out the act. She wanted Bo badly, but more than the desire to fulfill her fleshly needs, she wanted to make every move a memory. For reasons she could not explain, Carly wanted to be able to recall this night in vivid detail, from the meal they'd shared to the walk to the riverfront; from their discussion about a new boat to the look in Bo's eyes as he unzipped her dress.

When the black dress lay pooled at her feet, Bo gasped in wonder at what he had uncovered. There were very few purchases that Bo had not seen from Carly's subsequent shopping trips for maternity clothes. But these she'd kept back for a reason. When she'd gone back to _The Fitting Touch_ a few weeks ago – alone, thank you very much – she'd seen this matching set in one of the display cases and had known she had to have it.

The demi bra and hipster panties were not particularly daring, in and of themselves, but once Carly had put them on, she'd known that they would drive Bo mad. Her breasts filled the lace cups of the bra and the panties rode low on the flare of her hips. Even the sales girl couldn't stop gushing that the set had been made for Carly. The jade tone of the set was an exact reflection of Carly's eyes. Flesh colored thigh-high stockings completed her underclothing for the evening, and Bo walked slowly around her, taking in each and every delectable curve of his breathtaking wife.

Back in front of her, Bo trailed his fingers over her face. "You are so beautiful." His fingers played over her breasts and down to her swollen belly. "So beautiful."

Their mouths met again, in one tender kiss after another, as if Bo, too, wanted to go as slow as possible with their lovemaking. He led her to the bed where he pushed her gently to a sitting position. He knelt between her legs and bestowed a soft kiss over their unborn daughter. Then he removed her stockings one by one before he finished undressing.

Naked, he reached up to remove her bra. She lifted her hips obligingly when he took hold of her panties. Bo laid both pieces of underwear on the chair behind him. He took Carly's hands in his and kissed each of her fingertips. Then starting with her right foot, Bo placed kisses up the inside of one long and tanned leg and down the other, purposely avoiding the aching space between her thighs.

Bo helped Carly to slide backwards on the bed until her back rested against all of their pillows. The pillows provided plenty of support so that Bo was able to turn his attention to more pressing matters. He lay beside her, thoroughly ravishing her mouth while palming her breasts. Carly's quiet moans filled the silence in their room when Bo slid down to worship her breasts. They ached nearly all the time with the need to be suckled. Her flesh was tight, stretched, not only on her breasts and belly, but all over. The tops of her thighs tingled when the fabric of her clothes brushed them. The soft skin that covered the curve of her hips seemed to be imprinted with the ghost of Bo's touch. And always between her thighs, her body yearned for her husband to fill her.

Bo drew a nipple and the surrounding flesh deeply into his mouth, and the dusky tip hardened to an impossible consistency under the fevered attention of his tongue. While his mouth made love to Carly's left breast, his hand squeezed the right one with equal fervor.

Blindly Carly tried to reach for Bo; she could feel his hardened cock pressed against her thigh, but at thirty-one weeks she simply couldn't stretch that far. No matter; Bo pushed away her searching hands, holding them securely in his stronger grip. He slid over to the other side and began sucking on her left nipple until Carly thought she would come from that alone.

Bo's knowledgeable fingers slowly made their way to the juncture of Carly's thighs and began a steady onslaught of the wet and willing flesh they found. He circled the swollen bud of her clit, enticing it further from its hiding place; then he slid one finger at a time inside of her until three were thrusting knuckle-deep in mimicry of what his cock wanted to do.

Her breath was becoming ragged, and when Bo abandoned her nipple for her clit, Carly thrust her fist into her mouth to stifle her passionate cries. Lazily his tongue passed over her ultra-sensitive places, alternately licking and sucking, little by little pulling her to the edge. And though his movements were unhurried, Carly spiraled into a climax that left her womb quaking with the aftershocks.

Trembling, Carly rolled to her left side and Bo moved to fit his body against hers. He lifted her right leg just enough to slide his cock into her. The position didn't allow for deep penetration, but the friction was deliciously teasing. Finally Bo coaxed Carly to her knees, and at last he was able to bury himself fully inside her. Carly cried out her pleasure into her pillow, praying the material was enough to muffle the noise she was making.

Jaw clenched tight to contain his own groans, Bo held onto Carly's hips. Carly lifted her chest a bit from the bed so that she could squeeze her own breasts. Bo knew what she was doing, and he came instantly, his eyes nearly rolling back in his head. His orgasm triggered a second, more powerful one for Carly, and her body went perfectly still as the tide of her climax rolled over her. As he pulled out Bo rolled to his side, carefully bringing Carly with him.

He held her against his chest, one arm under her head and one wrapped under her breasts. "Are you all right, Princess?"

Carly purred her satisfaction, stretching languorously against him. "I'm fine, baby."

Bo's head dropped to her shoulder in relief. She'd grown so still at the last that he had feared she'd been hurt in some way. They lay quietly together for some time until Carly shivered in his arms. Bo pulled away long enough to finagle them both under the covers. Carly moved immediately back into his arms when lay back down beside her, and Bo held her as close as he possibly could.

Later in the night, Bo sat straight up in bed, fear gripping his heart like a vice. His wary eyes scanned the room for signs of danger, but nothing was out of place. He looked to his left where Carly slept peacefully, her face even more beautiful in the embrace of sleep. Heart thundering like racehorses, Bo went to the bathroom and splashed cold water on his face.

The reality of the water seemed to shake off the last dregs of sleep from his mind, and his heartbeat slowed to something in the vicinity of normal. Unable to help himself, he went to the window and checked the lock. It was sealed tight. He scanned the back yard and didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. Feeling foolish, Bo got back into bed and cuddled close to Carly. She moaned in her sleep and fitted her backside comfortably against him. Smiling, Bo kissed her hair and closed his eyes.

In the morning he would chalk his strange nocturnal stirrings up to stress over the upcoming custody battle with Hope. Later he would recall it for what it truly had been; the foreshadowing of a gut reaction that he would curse himself for not heeding.


	43. Chapter 43

Chapter 43

Judge Sherry Bolin sat sipping her fourth cup of coffee for the morning while reviewing the case file for her upcoming hearing. On paper, this was an open and shut case; mother abandons and relinquishes all parental rights to child. Mother then changes her mind and wants the child back. But Sherry had a feeling that this particular hearing would be anything but simple.

"Judge, it's time."

Sherry looked up to find Benjamin Carraway waiting at her door. Ben was one of her favorite bailiffs. A retired three-star general, Ben brought the Army's no-nonsense way of operating to her courtroom and kept her proceedings in order. No matter what turn a trial took, Ben could right it quickly and efficiently and straighten out the troublemakers in no time.

"Thank you, Ben. I'm on my way."

Ben walked ahead of her and announced, "All rise. The Honorable Judge Sherry Bolin presiding."

Sherry made her way to the bench, file tucked securely under her arm. Only when she was seated, gavel in hand, did she look around the courtroom – and did a double-take. Seated on the plaintiff's side were only six individuals; the plaintiff and her attorney and four spectators. The defendant's side more closely resembled a stadium at a sporting event. The two defendants sat with two attorneys and behind the partition wall nearly every seat was filled.

Sighing internally Sherry crooked her finger in a come-hither motion. "Counsel for both the plaintiff and defendants will approach."

"Melinda Burns, counsel for the plaintiff, Your Honor."

"Jack Campbell and Justin Kiriakis, co-counselors for the defense."

"Counselors, let's get one thing straight. I will not abide disorderly conduct in my courtroom. This is a custody hearing in family court, not a Hollywood murder trial. I am not accustomed to having my courtroom packed like a kids' soccer game. Now as the majority of this crowd is seated behind the defendants, one can only assume that they are here in support of them. Is that a correct deduction?"

"Yes, Your Honor," Justin confirmed. "But I assure you they will conduct themselves with the utmost decorum."

Sherry nodded, not at all convinced, but willing to give them one shot before having Ben toss them out. Waiving the three attorneys back to their respective sides, Sherry dropped her gavel once, instantly drawing all eyes to her.

"I was just explaining to the three attorneys that I normally do not draw such a crowd in my courtroom. Emotions in custody hearings naturally run high and ride close to the surface. I am concerned that with this many people, things could quickly get out of hand. If they do, I will not hesitate to throw all of you out of here and into the Salem County Jail if needed. This is my courtroom and I will have order. Have I made myself clear?"

Every head bobbed obligingly.

"Good. Ms. Burns, you may begin."

"Your Honor, I come before this court today on behalf of my client, Mrs. Hope Williams Brady. Mrs. Brady is a decorated detective with the Salem Police Department. But more importantly she is a mother; a mother who has been devastated by the loss of her child. Det. Brady's young daughter, Ciara, was kidnapped just over a year ago. Thankfully the child was recovered and reunited with her loving mother. As Det. Brady and her daughter were reeling from the aftermath of the kidnapping, she was dealt another injurious blow by her husband of nearly twenty-seven years, Commissioner Bo Brady. While Det. Brady was caring for Ciara and making sure her child received the help she needed, Commissioner Brady was busy helping himself to his former fiancé.

Commissioner Brady began a torrid extramarital affair with Dr. Carly Manning, a fugitive fleeing justice for the murder of her husband. We submit to this lawful court that the kidnapping of her daughter coupled with the faithlessness of her husband led to a complete mental breakdown for my client. Unable to cope with the stress these two events created, Det. Brady signed away her parental rights to Ciara. She has since sought counseling and has come to realize that giving up her daughter was a grave error in judgment, and she humbly asks this court for its assistance in correcting that mistake."

Smiling serenely at the judge, Melinda sat back down at the table with Hope and folded her hands. Melinda knew she'd drawn first blood with the allegations of cheating and murder, but she'd been in enough courtrooms to know that first blood didn't necessarily mean the killing blow.

"Mr. Kiriakis, you have the floor."

"Thank you, Your Honor," Justin said, rising from his chair. He buttoned his suit jacket and stepped from behind the defense table. "But I will defer to Mr. Campbell for the opening statement."

Justin and Jack had already discussed the fact that since Justin himself drew up the paperwork to dissolve Hope's parental rights, it would be better for Jack to be lead counsel.

Receiving a nod from the judge, Jack stood to give his opening statement.

"Your Honor, the plea of my clients is simple. Bo and Carly Brady are a happily married couple who have built a loving and stable home for all of their children, including their daughter, Ciara, and Ciara is very much their shared daughter, in both word and deed.

"When she was abandoned by her birth mother, Hope, Ciara was brought into the home of her father and his fiancé. Together, Bo and Carly gave Ciara a secure, extended family and provided her with the stability that this little girl was sorely lacking. A Petition of Adoption was submitted by Dr. Carly Brady, then Manning, at that time and was granted by this court. The final order was decreed by Your Honor. I submit a certified copy of that decree now as Defense Exhibit A.

"In a home with both a loving and stable father and mother, Ciara has blossomed. We have records, Defense Exhibit B, from her therapist documenting the progress Ciara has made since living with Bo and Carly. In addition, we will provide witnesses who will testify to the bond that has formed between Ciara and Carly. Bo, Carly and Ciara Brady are a family. To destroy that family by taking Ciara away and forcing her to return to the mother who thoughtlessly abandoned her would be the epitome of injustice."

Sherry glanced at the various documents which Jack had handed her. Though she already had a copy of the adoption decree, she peered at the file from Dr. Christopher Archibald, Ciara Brady's therapist.

"Ms. Burns, you have reviewed these documents?" Sherry asked.

"We have, Your Honor, and we do not deny their existence. We do, however, challenge their validity."

"In what manner?" Sherry inquired.

"Det. Brady was under extreme duress when she initiated those papers. She cannot be held responsible for her actions, nor should she be punished because of them." Melinda handed a thick stack of paperwork to the judge. "Furthermore, we submit that Det. Brady was duped into signing the Waiver of Custodianship by none other than Justin Kiriakis, co-counsel for the Defense."

"Save your objection, Mr. Campbell," Sherry ordered before Jack could even open his mouth. "These are serious accusations, Ms. Burns, and should not be bandied about carelessly."

"It's all there, Your Honor, in our Motion. We submit that while secretly working for the defendants, Mr. Kiriakis tricked Det. Brady into signing away her parental rights. This mockery of the law, coupled with all the psychological strain my client was under, led to the loss of her daughter. To that end, we request that until the issue of custody is resolved, visitation rights be restored to my client."

"The hell they will!" Bo jumped up from his seat and was barely restrained by Jack and Justin.

"Control your client, Counselors!" Sherry hammered the gavel repeatedly, silencing the other shouts that were breaking out from Hope's side of the courtroom. "Or I will."

Fuming, Bo took his seat, but he didn't take his eyes off of Hope. If looks could have killed, Hope would have been the mortician's next client.

"Ms. Burns, if you are at all familiar with the way I run my courtroom, you would know that the Motion you've just submitted is a waste of paper. Until I can sort out this mess, sole custody will remain with Bo and Carly Brady.

"Mr. Campbell, in light of the Plaintiff's accusations, am I correct in assuming that you will now be sole counsel for the Brady's?"

"That is correct, Your Honor. And we will also require that Detective Hope Brady submit to a psychological exam by a doctor of our choosing."

"Fine. Ms. Burns?"

"Det. Brady will be happy to submit to an exam."

"Wonderful. Now that we are all in such perfect harmony, court will adjourn until tomorrow morning at 9:00. Mr. Campbell, get an appointment scheduled for Det. Brady's examination."

With a final bang of the gavel, Sherry rose and exited the courtroom. Bo was immediately on his feet and in Jack's face. "What the hell was that about? You didn't tell me Hope was gonna do that."

"Bo, please," Carly tugged on his arm. "Let's get out of here first. We shouldn't discuss things out in the open like this."

Bo relented at last and placed his arm around Carly's shoulder, an action that did not go unnoticed by Hope. "I'm sorry, Jack."

"Don't worry about it, Bo, but Carly's right. We need to talk in private." Bo led Carly towards the door, but stopped in front of Shawn, who had stepped out into the aisle.

"Hey, son."

"I was hoping we could talk."

Bo nodded. "That depends. The last time we tried to 'talk' you only wanted to insult my wife and use me for a punching bag."

Shawn smiled tightly. "I just want to talk, that's all."

"Fine, come by the house. Your wife and daughter know where we live." Then Bo and Carly were gone, their extended family trailing behind after them.

"Bo, wait!" Hope called out, but Bo didn't even acknowledge her presence.

Crestfallen, Hope turned to Doug. "He didn't even look at me, Daddy," she lamented.

"Oh, sweetheart." Doug took Hope in his arms, trying to comfort his daughter while Julie and Maggie looked on. "I promise you that I will do everything I can to see that you get Ciara back."

"But Daddy, I need Bo! Without him, my life is nothing."

Doug shook his head. "Hope, you'll have Ciara, and that's all that matters. You'll get over Bo. Hell, the man doesn't deserve you! When this custody business is settled, you and Ciara will come stay with Julie and me. Once you're away from Salem, you'll forget all about Bo Brady."

Hope only wailed louder, burying her face in her father's chest. "I have to have Bo! He's all I want, and he's mine."

Doug seemed undeterred by his daughter's exclamations, but Maggie and Julie exchanged a knowing look. Both were alarmed at Hope's behavior, but neither seemed to be able to express it. Julie immediately felt guilty for even thinking that Hope had less than honorable intentions. But the seed of doubt had been planted, and Julie could see that it was growing in the garden of Maggie's mind as well.

Shaking her head to silence her conscience, Julie patted Hope on the back. "Darling, please don't cry anymore; not here, at any rate. Let's go back to Maggie's and have some hot tea."

Hope didn't respond, but did allow her father and Julie to lead her to the car, Maggie bringing up the rear. Once they were in the car, Hope noticed that Shawn was missing.

"I'm sure he just went to see Belle and Claire," Maggie rushed to assure her.

"Yes," Julie quickly agreed. "He'll be by to see you later on, darling, I'm sure of it."

Hope merely nodded and leaned against the seat for support. Though outwardly she appeared to be falling apart, on the inside, she was seething with anger. She hated Carly Manning. She loathed her. And if Hope got her way, she'd make Carly Manning rue the day she returned to Salem.

 _And I always get my way,_ Hope thought maliciously. _Always_.


	44. Chapter 44

Chapter 44

"Look who I found wandering around outside!" Bo exclaimed as he entered the Pub. Everyone glanced up as John and Marlena Black followed him inside.

"Daddy! Mom!" Belle ran to greet her parents. "What are you doing here? Why didn't you tell me you were coming?"

Marlena laughed as she hugged her youngest daughter. "It came as a surprise to us, too. But I received a call late last night from an old friend. His father has pancreatic cancer, and Chris is caring for him. He asked me to manage his practice while he's away."

"And now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to say hello to another old friend." Marlena walked straight to Carly who pushed herself to a standing position. The two women embraced.

"Hello, old friend," Marlena said beaming.

"Marlena, it's wonderful to see you! It's been a long time."

"Yes, it has." Marlena took a moment to study Carly. "And something tells me you have quite a story to tell me someday. If you feel the need, that is," she rushed to add.

"You might be right, but for now we've got bigger problems, I'm afraid."

"But not before I get my hello." John Black's gruff voice was softened by his smile. "Welcome home, lady. It's good to have you back." He kissed her cheek; then helped her to sit back down.

"Believe me, John it's good to be back." Bo slid into the chair next to his wife and indicated the empty chairs across from them. John and Marlena sat down, and Marlena jumped in with both feet.

"That's where I think we can help you. The friend who asked that I take up his practice is Christopher Archibald, Ciara's psychiatrist. He's already sent me her case file and I reviewed it on the trip over. I'll be ready to testify at a moment's notice."

Bo and Carly shared a look before Bo spoke, carefully choosing his words. "Are you sure that you're comfortable with that? I mean, we'd need you to talk with Hope, too. Jack here requested that the judge order Hope to undergo an evaluation from a psychiatrist that we chose."

"Bo, my job as a psychiatrist is to help people, whoever they are, regardless of my personal feelings. As I said, Chris sent me Ciara's file last night because he knew about the custody hearing. He of course recorded his interactions with Hope during his therapy sessions with Ciara, and he found them very disturbing, as did I.

"I want what's best for Ciara, and my findings will be based upon what I feel that is."

"Dr. Black," Jack interjected. "I realize you've only just arrived, but I'd very much like to schedule your session with Hope this afternoon. I believe that Judge Bolin wants to move quickly and the faster we can present opposing evidence to Hope's claims, the better chance we have of things turning out well for Bo and Carly. Oh, and I'm Jack Campbell, by the way. Please excuse my lack of manners."

Marlena shook Jack's outstretched hand and replied without hesitation. "Schedule a session as soon as possible with Hope's attorney. I'll head to the hospital now and begin setting up in Chris's office. Hope can come by at any time." Standing, she handed Jack a business card. "This is my cell phone number, if anything unexpected happens." Then she bade everyone goodbye and left for the hospital.

Belle took up her mother's vacated seat and began filling her father in on Claire's latest homeschool accomplishments.

"And where is that granddaughter of mine?"

"She's upstairs with Ma and Ciara," Bo answered.

John nodded thoughtfully and turned back to Belle. "What about you, little girl? Has your husband come to his senses yet?"

"Daddy," Belle chided. "My problems with Shawn are my own. There's no need for you and Mom to get involved."

"Maybe not," Bo interrupted. "But he's my son and I don't like the way he's treating you. Just because he's mad at me and Carly doesn't give him the right to take it out on you."

"Bo, please. I've got a lot of experience dealing with Shawn's stubbornness. He knows where I am and how I feel about the situation. Besides, it isn't about who's right or wrong; I'm keeping Claire from Hope because the woman has come unglued. If she ever rejoins the rest of us on Planet Reality, then I'll let her visit with Claire."

Melanie, coming to the table, overheard Belle and snorted loudly. "In that case, you'd better tell Claire that Hope got abducted by aliens or joined a convent or something. Hope's out of her freaking mind!"

"Melanie!"

"Mom, it's true. That woman is nothing but a manipulating liar. She isn't thinking about anyone besides herself, certainly not Ciara."

"I'm not saying you're wrong, baby, but this entire mess is hard enough on Ciara. How do you think she would feel if she hears us talking about Hope that way?"

Melanie only shrugged. "The munchkin is upstairs taking a nap. Now do you want these or not?" She dangled a basket of fresh, beer-battered onion rings in front of Carly.

Carly perked up and snatched the basket from her daughter.

"Jeez, Mom, take my arm off next time, why don't you?"

Carly only shrugged in response. "Hey, I'm starving all the time. I am eating for two, after all."

"Yeah, two NFL offensive lines, from the looks of it," Melanie commented.

Carly fixed Melanie with her most lethal glare, but the table's other occupants only started laughing when Melanie threw the same expression back at her mother.

"Christ almighty, she's just like you, Carly!" John exclaimed. Melanie gave her mother a cheeky grin and plopped down beside her, neatly snagging another onion ring.

"That's all you get, kid. Starving, remember?"

Still grinning, Melanie took another while Carly cried out in mock horror. "I'm not worried. I can outrun you."

"For now, maybe, but after this baby is born, you'd better sleep with one eye open."

"Pfft. You're all talk. Besides, I know for a fact there are more onion rings where these came from. If you're sweet, I'll bring you some more."

"I don't mean to steer the conversation back to more unpleasant topics, but I've just spoken with Melinda Burns. She's sending Hope to see Dr. Black this afternoon at 4:00," Jack informed them. "I'll be meeting with Dr. Black afterwards to go over her testimony in preparation for tomorrow's court session."

"Well, that's good, right?" Carly asked. "You said the faster, the better."

"Yes, but there's something I need to tell you and I'm not sure you're going to like it."

"Jack, just spit it out already."

"Ciara has an appointment with Dr. Mark Witherspoon, a local psychiatrist, tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. Judge Bolin's clerk just emailed me a copy of the order."

"So?" Bo couldn't understand why Jack seemed so put out. It seemed only natural to Bo that the judge would want Ciara examined by another doctor.

"Dr. Witherspoon isn't just any psychiatrist, Bo. He's Hope's doctor, too."


	45. Chapter 45

Chapter 45

Carly found Bo out on the back patio, sitting in one of the Adirondack chairs. The cold night air felt wonderful to her; thanks to the baby, she had her own personal furnace. Bo heard the patio door open and waived her over. He pulled her down and wrapped his arms around her.

"What are you doing out here, baby?"

"I'm just…thinking," Bo said at last. "Shawn is here."

That caught Carly by surprise. She'd been napping most of the afternoon and hadn't seen anyone when she'd gone looking for Bo. "Why is he here?"

"He wanted to see Claire and Belle, but he wants to talk to me, too."

"About Hope?"

"I doubt he wants my opinion on the BCS standings so yes, I imagine he wants to talk about his mother."

"Ah, in that case, I think I'm going to take a bath…in Tanzania." Carly made a move as if to leave, but two things hindered her escape; her pregnant belly and Bo's arms around it.

"No way, Princess, we're in this together remember?"

"I'll be with you in spirit…from Tanzania.

That earned her a tiny smile, but Bo quickly grew sober again. "I'm just ready for all this to be behind us. Sometimes I wish that Hope would just go away, for good. Is that wrong of me?"

"No, I don't think so. Look, when we were first together, you told me a lot about Hope. Do you remember?"

Bo nodded, not exactly sure where Carly was headed.

"The woman you described to me was a loving wife and doting mother. She was bright and smart and funny. Most of all she seemed to really care about people.

"Bo, the Hope that I met when I came to Salem was not the Hope that you were grieving back when you and I met. I understand that people change; sometimes for the better, but oftentimes the changes they undergo are dark and disturbing. We don't understand why; we only know that the people whom we love are different one day." Boy, are they, she added silently, thinking of Lawrence.

"They're hurtful and hateful, seeking revenge for grievances that never happened. They inflict pain on the ones they claim to love. Hope isn't the woman you fell in love with all those years ago, and her behavior towards Ciara just breaks my heart. How can it not break yours?"

"That's just it, Princess. It did break my heart in the beginning and now I don't feel anything towards Hope. When I look at her now, it's exactly as you said; my Fancy Face is gone. This woman in her place is nothing to me. I really wish she'd just go away before she ruins even the few happy memories I have left of our life together."

"You shouldn't feel guilty about that, Bo. Hope has used up all her passes with you. Our only concern right now should be Ciara and how all this will affect her. Hope made this mess and now she'll have to deal with it."

Carly felt Bo's nod against her head and relaxed in his arms. Bo seemed to do the same and they just enjoyed each other's presence in the quiet of the night. The peace was shattered suddenly at a rather loud throat-clearing. Together, Bo and Carly turned to find Shawn watching them intently.

Bo gave Carly a gentle shove so she slid to the end of the chair. This allowed Bo to stand and help her to her feet. Carly remained silent and waited on Bo to speak first. "Princess, why don't you leave us alone?"

"Yes, I need to help Ciara get ready for bed." She gave Bo a chaste kiss on the cheek and headed off in search of Ciara. She moved quickly and failed to catch the dirty look Shawn sent her way.

Bo caught it, and from the look in his father's eyes, Shawn could tell he wasn't happy about it. Not that Shawn cared what his father or Carly thought. Because he didn't care at all. That's why he'd asked to speak to his dad; to let him know exactly how much he didn't care.

"Shawn, I'm glad you're here," Bo began. "But I warned you in the courtroom that I'm not going to listen to you pitch another fit. So why are you here?"

Shawn shoved his hands in his pockets in an effort to keep them to himself. "I just wanna talk to you, Dad. I'm just trying to understand some things, that's all."

Bo nodded and indicated that Shawn take a seat at the patio table. He then retrieved two beers from the small fridge behind the outdoor bar. He handed one to his son and said, "So talk."

"I'm sorry for punching you last time," Shawn began. "But I was really pissed off about what you and Carly did to Mom."

Bo exhaled sharply but said, "Fair enough. So you're here now because…"

"Because I want to try and reason with you, for Mom's sake." Bo didn't say anything so Shawn continued. "Mom is hurting, Dad. I've never her seen her so upset except for Zach. She needs Ciara. She misses her. Please, just give Ciara back to Mom. It isn't like she won't let Ciara see you. She promised me…"

"Wait just a minute. Did your mother send you over here?"

"No, I'm here for her, but she doesn't know I'm here. I spent the afternoon with her at Aunt Maggie's. Dad, you should've seen her. She was just broken. So I asked her what she would do if she got Ciara back. She smiled so sweetly, Dad, just like she used to when I was a little kid, you know? And she swore that if she could just have Ciara back, then she'd let you and Carly see her all you wanted. She just wants the same chance."

Bo looked into the eyes of his eldest child and saw the hope there. Shawn had always had a special bond with Hope, and Bo tried to tell himself that he understood why the boy was naturally on his mother's side. But the truth was it was a knife to his gut. To buy some time, Bo took several long pulls from his beer. He didn't want to further alienate his own son, but Shawn had to understand that things were different now.

"Son, if I thought for a moment that your mom was sincere…"

"She is," Shawn avowed.

"If I thought that were true, neither Carly nor I would keep Ciara from your mother. But your mom is…not herself right now. Something's happened to her, and frankly, I'm afraid for Ciara to be near her. Hell, Ciara is afraid of your mother!"

Shawn's hands began to shake. "The only thing that happened to Mom was you cheating on her with Carly. Everything is Carly's fault, don't you see? If you'd left her alone, then you and Mom would be together now. Carly doesn't care about you, not the way Mom does. You're throwing away Mom for a woman who didn't even care enough about us to stay with us!"

His temper having reached the boiling point, Shawn ran into the house. Bo stayed put, mulling over in his heart what Shawn had said – more importantly what he hadn't said. Bo finally understood that the majority of Shawn's anger had nothing to do with Hope and everything to do with Carly. Shawn had never gotten past Carly leaving when he was a kid, but tonight he'd given his father the insight he needed to help his son remember just how much Carly had loved him, once upon a time.

" _And the prince and the princess were married and lived happily ever after._ " Carly closed the book and kissed Ciara on the end of her nose. "Now it's time for sleep, Munchkin."

Ciara gave Carly her best puppy dog eyes. "Please, Mommy, just once more," she pleaded. "Then I promise I'll go to sleep."

"Night, night, Munchkin," Carly responded. Ciara pouted a bit but snuggled into her pillow nonetheless.

"I love you, Mommy," Ciara said sweetly as Carly turned off the lamp.

"I love you, too, baby." Carly shut the door partially behind her and nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw Shawn leaning against the opposite wall. Hand over her pounding heart, Carly tried to joke. "What, are you trying to jumpstart my labor or something?"

"I heard you reading to Ciara, just now."

"Yes, I read to her every night. Is that a problem? Does _The Princess and the Pea_ offend your bedtime-story sensibilities or something?"

"You used to read that to me, when I was a kid. You and Dad first told me that story together."

"We did. I'm glad you remember. Those are good memories; at least they are for me. I hope you can look back on them fondly, too."

"I remember when Dad was missing. You took care of me. You made me feel safe, even when it seemed like Dad was never coming home, I wasn't that afraid because you were there."

Carly was speechless listening to Shawn. In the voice of the man, she heard the little boy that she'd held in her arms as he cried out for his papa. And her heart broke again.

"I wasn't afraid because you promised me that you would never leave me."

Carly stretched out her hand and laid it gently on Shawn's arm. "Sweetheart…"

Shawn knocked her hand away. "You lied." He stalked off, leaving Carly staring after him.


	46. Chapter 46

Chapter 46

Shawn shifted uncomfortably on the witness stand, waiting on his mother's attorney to ask her first question. It seemed like every eye in the courtroom was on him, and it was hot as hell in the place. Beads of sweat pooled on his forehead and he resisted the urge to wipe his face against his sleeve.

"Good morning, Shawn," Melinda Burns smiled at him encouragingly. "Will you please state your relationship to the plaintiff?"

"Um, she's my mother."

"Very good, thank you. And the defendants?"

"Well, he's my father and I guess, well, I guess that Carly is my stepmother."

"You guess? You mean you aren't certain if Dr. Manning is your stepmother?"

Shawn shrugged. "What I mean is that they haven't been married very long. I'm not used to the idea yet."

"I see. But you've known Carly Manning for a long time, have you not?"

"She and my dad were engaged when I was a kid. He, well, all of us, thought my mom was dead at the time."

"So Carly and your father were engaged? But they didn't marry?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Well, they were going to get married one Valentine's Day, but my dad was kidnapped. Then when the wedding was rescheduled, the ceremony got interrupted. So they just never got married."

"And what happened to the relationship?"

"Carly left my dad." The coldness in Shawn's voice was so pronounced that even the judge looked up in surprise.

Carly, sitting at the table with Bo, wanted to cry. She'd loved this little boy like her own, and all of the animosity she'd been getting from him was taking its toll. Bo looked over and smiled at her and Carly nodded in silent thanks; Bo knew what she was feeling and like always was her rock.

"Please elaborate, Shawn."

"Carly left my dad and me to be with her ex and their son. We never talked about her again. We never even heard from her again until she came back to town after she killed her husband."

"Objection!" Jack shouted. "The untimely death of Lawrence Alamain has absolutely nothing to do with these proceedings."

"On the contrary, Your Honor, it has everything to do with this case," Melinda argued. "We are trying to determine the best home for a young and impressionable girl. And the home of an admitted murderess simply cannot be the haven of safety that a home should be."

"Your Honor, I would like to remind the court and Counsel that a man in Lawrence Alamain's country has already confessed and been sentenced for Mr. Alamain's murder."

"I'm well aware of that Mr. Campbell. As far as the law is concerned, a crime took place in another country and the perpetrator of that act has been punished. Therefore justice has been served and it is not the place of this court to pass judgment for that act." Judge Bolin turned to Melinda. "In other words, Counselor, I don't wish to hear anything further regarding Mr. Alamain's death. Objection sustained."

"I'll redirect, Your Honor.

"Shawn, were your parents married when Dr. Manning returned to Salem?"

"They were."

"And where did Dr. Manning reside when she first returned to Salem?"

"With my dad, in my parents' house."

"And where were your mother and sister, Ciara?"

"They moved in with my grandfather."

"And were your parents divorced at this time?"

"No. Carly and my dad were living together, but he was still married to my mother. He was cheating on my mom with Carly."

"And to your knowledge was Ciara happy with your mother at your grandfather's home?"

"I don't know that she was happy, but she was happier there than with my dad and Carly. My mom told me that Ciara hated Carly."

"Objection. This is pure hearsay."

"Sustained."

Melinda thought for a moment; then deciding she could get nothing more from Shawn that would be useful, she said, "Your witness, Mr. Campbell."

Shawn did not like Jack Campbell. He felt threatened by him, and he certainly didn't like the fact that the guy was engaged to Chelsea. As a rule he didn't trust anyone who reminded him of Phillip, and this guy was a suit just like his half-uncle. Jack, brilliant lawyer that he was, knew how much Shawn disliked him and planned on using that to his advantage. After all, if Hope's witness appeared unhinged, then so did Hope. As he stood, Justin passed him a hastily scribbled note. Jack read it and put it in his pocket.

"Shawn, you said that your mother informed you of Ciara's 'hatred' towards Dr. Manning. Did you ever witness such behavior yourself?"

"No, but…"

"In fact, you and your family have been gone from Salem these last two years, is that correct?"

"Yes, but…"

"So you have no firsthand knowledge whatsoever of the state of your parents' marriage at the time of its demise."

Shawn turned into a petulant child. "I know what my mother told me."

"Which may or may not be the truth," Jack pointed out reasonably.

Shawn lost all reason. "Are you calling my mother a liar?" Shawn practically lunged at Jack, who neatly stepped back and looked to the bailiff. The old man was at the witness stand in a flash and clapped a deceptively strong hand on Shawn's shoulder, forcing him back to the chair.

"Mr. Brady, you will control yourself in my courtroom. Do you understand?"

Shawn clenched his jaw tightly but managed a curt, "Yes, Your Honor."

"You've recently returned to Salem with your family. Have you had an opportunity to observe the dynamic between your sister and your stepmother?"

Another shrug. "I guess."

"You certainly do a lot of guessing, Mr. Brady."

Melinda cleared her throat loudly. "Objection! Counsel is harassing the witness."

"Sustained. Mr. Campbell, let's try and keep things pleasant, shall we?"

Jack was the epitome of charming. "Of course, my sincerest apologies, Mr. Brady. Please elaborate on any first-hand observations you have regarding the relationship between your younger sister, Ciara, and your stepmother, Dr. Carly Manning Brady."

Shawn's nervous gaze flickered to his mother. He didn't want to say what he'd seen last night at his dad's house. He knew it would hurt his mom, but he had no choice; he was under oath. "Last night I overheard Carly reading to Ciara in her room. Ciara called Carly 'Mommy' and told her she loved her. Carly told Ciara she loved her, too."

"I see. It sounds as though you were privy to a loving mother tucking her daughter in for the night, would that be correct?"

Shawn nearly replied with "I guess," but at the last moment settled for a curt "Yeah."

"Perhaps the scene you witnessed was not unlike memories of Carly from your own childhood?"

Shawn narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean?"

"Carly was a large part of your life when you were a small boy, wasn't she? In fact, she once risked her own life to save yours. She personally oversaw your recuperation and recovery from your injuries and subsequent surgeries. Would you have the court believe that after she began a relationship with your father, that she cast you aside? Were you mistreated by the woman who, for all intents and purposes, was a mother to you for three years of your life?"

Shawn hesitated, unsure of how to respond. He caught a glimpse of his mother who appeared as cold and unfeeling as he'd ever seen her; then at his dad and Carly, who looked at him with nothing but sympathy in their eyes.

"Mr. Brady, please answer the question."

"Um, I, uh," a second glance at his mom made his chest ache. She looked exactly like she did when she thought was Gina Von Amberg, and for a flash of a second, Shawn expected her to light up one of those damn cigarettes she smoked back then.

He could hear Jack asking the judge something and then the judge starting ordering him to answer. But he couldn't. He just couldn't. His eyes were locked with his mom's and he didn't know what to do! The judge banged her gavel and the resonating thud jarred him badly, causing him to jump and break eye contact with his mother. He looked wildly around and saw Carly.

Just like that his mind resurrected a memory long-buried of Carly holding him next to her the night of the storm, when someone had set them adrift from the dock. He'd crawled into bed with her, afraid of the howling wind and rocking boat, afraid his dad was never coming home, afraid that Carly, whom he secretly thought of as his mother, would disappear, too.

Carly hadn't chided him nor had she downplayed his fears. She'd simply offered comfort, just as she'd done since she first crawled into that well to save him. Carly had loved him; he'd loved Carly, wanted her to be his new mom. And when she'd left, he remembered thinking it would've been easier if she'd died like his real mom; then he wouldn't be so angry at her.

It was too much for Shawn to process; his memories of Carly battled with the hateful diatribes of his mother about Carly. His mother's strange behavior was at odds with his fundamental trust in her. And now he was facing both of them, his mother looking like she could murder him where he sat and Carly, as though she wanted to give him a hug.

"I'm sorry," he muttered and flew from the witness stand, unable to hide his tears. Deaf to the ruckus his departure caused, he ran out into the foyer seeking relief for the hole in his heart threatening to consume him.

Back inside the judge ordered a fifteen minute recess, and Bo, Carly and Belle rose to look for Shawn. As they hurried to the door, Hope grabbed Carly's arm, wrenching her around. "What the hell are you doing?" Hope shouted. "You took my husband. You took my daughter. Now you're trying to take my son, too!"

"Hope, I…"

"Shut up, you bitch! I hate you! Bo is mine and you took him! I'll kill you! I swear to God I'll kill you for taking him from me!" Hope drew back her arm and backhanded Carly. Her hand connected with Carly's cheekbone with a satisfying crunch. Carly wobbled and stumbled backwards. Hope prepared for another swing, but found herself on the ground instead. There was a knee in her back; the old bailiff whom Hope had not even seen move in their direction. He handcuffed her and when she tried to turn her head to search for Bo, the guard forced her head back to the floor. Then she was hauled unceremoniously to her feet and led towards the back exit of the courtroom. Struggling she turned to find Bo. He was cradling Carly close with a dozen others petting and cooing over her.

"Bo, please! Help me! I love you! Help!"

Hope screamed and cried, but to no avail; Bo never acknowledged her. He turned his back on her, hands framing Carly's face. Even her own father and Julie were looking at Carly with concern. They were so focused on Carly that no one saw her. Hope was dragged from the courtroom feeling very much invisible.

"Princess, are you all right?" Bo traced his thumb across the bruise already beginning to form on Carly's cheek. She winced, but nodded. Then her eyes widened and she grabbed her belly.

"What, what is it? What's wrong?"

Carly was breathing deeply and wouldn't answer him. Then her face contorted in pain and he knew instantly what was wrong. "She's having contractions!" he shouted, and set the already-buzzing courtroom into a maelstrom of panic.

Breathless, Carly waived her hands at him, trying to get his attention. "Hospital, now."

"We've already radioed for an ambulance, Commissioner." Judge Bolin was at his elbow. "Let's move back, everyone, give them some room."

Reluctantly the crowd dispersed, but the worried murmurs didn't stop. Bo helped Carly to a seat and held her hands. He made promises that things would be fine, but he was calculating to himself that it was too early for their daughter to be born. Carly doubled over as another contraction rocked her and Bo watched in rapt fascination as the bulge of her belly grew taught under the spasm.

The paramedics arrived and bundled Carly into the back of the ambulance. Carly offered only short answers to their inquiries and Bo tried to fill in the blanks as best he could. He was greatly relieved to see Anne waiting on them in the emergency room when they got to the hospital. Anne had the EMT's take Carly directly to an exam room.

"All right, Manning, no way in hell are you having that kid today, you hear me? I prefer not to deliver babies before the thirty-seventh week of pregnancy, and you are barely rounding out week thirty-three."

Carly's attempt at laughter was short lived as she was hit with another cramp-like contraction. "I hear you fine, Snow, it's my kid who isn't listening."

"Stubborn like her mother, I see," Anne remarked to Bo who was as white as a sheet.

Bo, in no mood for jokes, pleaded, "Just fix her. Please."

Anne patted his hand. "Hang in there, Dad. Mom and Baby will be just fine." She stepped back to allow a nurse to strap a fetal heart monitor on Carly. Immediately, they were greeted with the reassuring sounds of a healthy, steady heart beat. Anne smiled and patted Carly's leg.

"Open up, Manning, let's see what you're trying to pull."

Carly spread her legs and winced as Anne began poking and prodding at her. At last, Anne removed her hand and yanked off the rubber glove she was wearing. "No dilation or effacement. Your cervix is as hard as a brick and this little girl is so high up, her feet must be in your throat."

Carly's head dropped onto the pillow in relief and Bo finally took a deep breath. "So she's all right? They're both all right?"

Anne took a moment to peruse the findings from the heart monitor. Then she made a couple of notes and sat down next to Carly's bedside. "I think we're looking a standard case of Braxton-Hicks, brought on, no doubt, by this horrible custody battle."

Carly raised an eyebrow. "Heard about that already, have you?"

"Why do you think I was tapping my foot in the ambulance bay? By the time I heard they were bringing you in, the rumor mill was churning that Hope had shot you in front of the judge and barricaded herself in the judge's chambers."

"Yes, well, the reality isn't quite as exciting, thank God, but you know how I like to stir things up."

"Uh huh, which is why you're going to stay here like a good little girl overnight so I can watch you. And no more of that trial; your blood pressure is coming down nicely, but it was sky-high when the paramedics got to you. I'm not risking actual preterm labor for you to argue with a selfish child disguised as a grown woman."

"Oh, Anne, you have such a way with words. Besides, I'm not arguing; that's what we're paying Jack for. Right, baby?" Carly looked to Bo for support and found him glowering at her, arms folded across his chest.

"Forget it, Princess. Anne says you need to stay here so you're staying. We'll have the trial postponed until after the baby's born. Nothing is more important right now than yours and the baby's health."

"What about Ciara?"

"Ciara is safe. The judge isn't going to let Hope see her, and after the shit she just pulled, I seriously doubt the judge will even consider giving Hope custody anymore."

"Fine, I'll stay, but I want you to promise me that you'll go home tonight. Ciara will need you there."

"Done. I promise I'll go home after you fall asleep tonight."

A nurse stuck her head in the door and called for Anne. "Dr. Snow, I'm not sure how much longer I can keep these people out of here."

Through the open door, Bo and Carly could hear a cacophony of threats ranging from pulled funding – that was Victor – to bodily harm – that was Nick – if they weren't given an update on Carly's diagnosis. Snickering, Bo dropped a kiss on Carly's forehead.

"Let me go deal with the masses. I'll be right back." The young nurse sighed in relief and retreated to the relative safety of the quiet exam room in order to let Bo pass. The noise level increased tenfold when Bo made an appearance. Carly laughed when he bellowed loudly for silence; then winced when they erupted in cheers.

"I'm going to leave you hooked up to the monitor for a couple of hours, just to be certain," Anne said, making notes on Carly's chart. "But honestly, everything looks great. Just try and rest tonight and I'll release you in the morning." She leaned down and kissed Carly's cheek.

"Thanks, Anne you have no idea how safe I feel to have you taking care of us."

"I'm thrilled to do it, Carly. I'll check on you in a bit." Anne opened the door and Nick and Melanie rushed in. Thus began a revolving door of visitors until a charge nurse shooed them all away under penalty of banishment while they transported Carly to the maternity floor.

Once she was settled in a private room, the nurse made good on her threat and Carly was able to take a nap. She awoke a few hours later to Bo calling her name gently. He was sporting a grin from ear to ear, and Jack was standing next to him wearing an equally bright smile. She immediately sensed something was up, and that it was good.

"Hey, Princess, I hated to wake you. You looked so peaceful, but Jack here has some great news." With that he dropped into the chair next to Carly's bed and took her hand in his.

"I was summoned to Judge Bolin's chambers shortly after Hope's attack on you. Hope's attorney was there, as were Drs. Black and Witherspoon. To say that Judge Bolin was displeased with Hope's behavior would be an understatement.

"Judge Bolin has denied Hope's petition. Her parental rights remain terminated, and Ciara belongs to the two of you!"

Carly blinked, the news taking a moment to register. "So it's over?"

"Yes, it's over. Well, the custody battle is over." Jack added. "There's still the matter of whether you would like to press charges against Hope for assault? I assure you, Judge Bolin will be happy to shuttle her over to Criminal Court."

A few shared glances let Jack know Bo and Carly were having one of their silent conversations. Bo looked at Jack at last. "We won't press charges if Hope promises to leave us alone."

"I hear Timbuktu is pleasant this time of year," Carly said. "Perhaps she could take an extended vacation there?"

Jack laughed but answered, "You don't have to press charges, but legally you can't force her out of town."

"Damn!" Carly swore. "Where's a black hole when you really need one? Ugh, life would be so much more peaceful if she'd just go away."

"I might be able to help you with that," Jack said slyly. He reached into his briefcase and withdrew a formal looking document. "It's a simple restraining order, which Judge Bolin is more than happy to execute. Hope wouldn't be able to come within 1000 feet of Bo, Ciara or you."

Carly snatched the paper from him. "Great! Where do I sign?"

Jack gave her a pen, and Carly signed her name with a flourish.

Jack stood and put the paper back into his briefcase. "I'll file this now."

"Thank you, Jack," Carly gave him a beautiful smile. "You've been a godsend to us."

"I'm happy to help, but to be honest, my job wasn't that difficult. The law and moral right were on your side. There was never any doubt in my mind as to the outcome. I'll see you both later on tomorrow."

Bo waited until Jack was gone before Bo began jumping around and pumping his fists in the air. Through peals of laughter Carly asked, "What on earth are you doing?"

"What, this? This is my happy dance." He then gave her an extended version of the happy dance.

"You look like a spastic duck." When Bo pouted, she added, "Lucky for you I happen to love spastic ducks."

"Oh, really, well, lucky for you I have a thing for mouthy doctors," Bo said, creeping closer to Carly's bedside. He leaned in and captured her lips in a searing kiss.

"I had no idea what true love was, until you came into my life, Princess."

"Neither did I. Bo, I love you so much."

Carly slid over as far as she could in her bed to make room for Bo to lie beside her. She turned into his embrace, careful not to jostle the heart monitor still strapped to her stomach, and felt his lips on her hair. "I love you, now and always." They dozed off to the lullaby of their unborn daughter's heartbeat.


	47. Chapter 47

Chapter 47

"I am so glad to get out of there!" Carly remarked as she and Bo drove away from the hospital. The night had passed uneventfully, and Anne had discharged her just before lunch. "How we expect people to get well on the garbage we feed them is beyond me."

"You're still pissed about that oatmeal, aren't you?" Bo chuckled.

"Bo, that substance was not oatmeal. That was – hell, I don't know what that was!"

Bo just laughed and navigated through the noonday traffic. They were headed to the Pub for an impromptu baby shower/custody battle victory party. "Relax, Princess, Ma and Carys will make sure you're fed once we get to the Pub."

"Laugh it up, buddy. When the baby is born I'll make sure you get some of that oatmeal."

Bo couldn't help it; he was still laughing when they pulled into the parking lot behind the Pub. As soon as he and Carly hit the door, they were accosted with hugs and well-wishes from what had to amount to half the town. Their kids were all there, with the exception of Shawn. Belle had not been able to reach him after the debacle in the courtroom yesterday, and Bo had promised her he would look for him after the party. He figured Shawn was just hiding out somewhere, though. Hope was supposed to have been released this morning and Bo thought that Shawn might have stayed at her house last night, just wanting to be alone. He would deal with all of that later; right now there was a celebration to attend.

A table was off to the side of the bar, laden down with enough food to feed a small country. A not-so-small pile of gifts was next to it. Their family and friends had outdone themselves, and Carly felt happy tears spring to her eyes.

Ciara spied her parents and all but jumped from Victor's arms. Little legs pumping furiously, she ran to them, throwing her arms around Carly. "Mommy! I missed you so much!" Anne had warned Carly against picking up anything too heavy, just as a precaution, but Carly could've no more stopped herself from scooping up Ciara than she could've forced herself to stop breathing.

"Oh! I missed you, too, Munchkin!" Bo and Carly had taken Ciara to school the previous morning on their way to the hearing. But Bo had only brought Ciara to the hospital for a few moments last night, and Ciara had cried when they'd left. It had broken Carly's heart.

"Come and look at all the presents we have for my baby sister." Carly set down the excited child and allowed her to lead her over to the table. Caroline stopped them on their path to the gifts with the suggestion that they all sit down and eat first. Ciara pouted, but when Carly smiled at her, the little girl brightened immediately.

Caroline had closed the Pub for the day, but every available seat in the house was taken. Food was ladled onto plates as dishes were passed around from table to booth and back again. The Pub was filled with laughter and love, and Caroline couldn't remember the last time she'd seen Bo so happy. Carly had done that; she'd brought peace to Bo's life and pure joy. When Carly had first come back into Bo's life, Caroline had been certain that it would be a disaster. She'd never been more pleased to be so completely wrong.

From across the room, Marlena observed the goings-on with John. Claire was on the floor with her iPad while Belle was at the gift table with Melanie and Carys gathering up the first wave of presents for Carly to open. She was so proud to share in Bo and Carly's joy; after her session with Hope the other day, Marlena had drawn the professional conclusion that Bo had been lacking in happiness for a long time. She was going to keep an eye on Hope, too. Their session had left Marlena feeling distinctly unsettled.

The girls had dragged a large box over to Bo and Carly. From the looks of it, Marlena guessed it was a stroller of some sort. Carly ripped through the paper to reveal a travel system.

"Oh, it's perfect!" she gushed. The stroller and matching infant seat were covered in a blushing shade of pink, overlain with brown paisley swirls.

Kate, who had gifted the stroller, answered, "Chelsea said that was the one you liked when she was shopping with you."

"It is. Thank you, Kate."

"Here, this is from us." Chelsea gave Carly a large box that Jack was holding. "It wasn't the one you originally picked out, but I saw this and just had to get it." Carly opened the box to reveal an assortment of pink Vera Bradley bags.

"The design is called Cupcakes," Chelsea explained as she showed Carly the different kinds she had bought. "This one actually is a diaper bag and it has a changing pad and everything. The backpack, I thought you could use when she gets to be a toddler, and there's a large and small duffel bag for her first set of luggage!"

"Thank you, sweetheart!" Carly smiled at her. "I love them."

"And they can be monogrammed."

"Pffft, kid's got to have a name before we can monogram anything," Melanie remarked.

Carly rolled her eyes. "She'll have a name."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Melanie said thrusting another package at her mother. Bo and Carly took turns opening the gifts and offering thanks to their friends and family for each one. There were so many outfits, pacifiers, bottles, diapers, wipes, toys and equipment, that Bo wasn't certain how they'd haul it all home.

Finally the last gift had been opened, or so Carly thought. Ciara sidled up next to her, hands clutching a small box. "Here, Mommy," she said shyly. "I picked this out for the baby. I hope she likes it."

"I'm sure she will, Munchkin. Do you think you can help me open it?"

Ciara nodded and carefully tore open the paper. "I wrapped it myself," she declared proudly.

"I can see that, and you did a wonderful job, too." Carly thought she must have gone through an entire roll of tape, but she kept that observation to herself. Lifting the lid from the box, Carly found an adorable ceramic frame festooned with stick-figure representations of two little girls. At the top of the frame was the phrase "I love my Big Sister."

"I have one, too, but it says 'I love my Little Sister.' Melanie helped me pick them out."

"We'll take a picture of you and the baby once she's born and put them in your frames. Thank you very much, baby girl."

"I love you, Mommy." Ciara stood on her tip toes and kissed Carly's cheek. "And I love you, Baby Sister," she giggled before hugging Carly's belly. "May Claire and I go outside and play?"

Bo and Carly exchanged looks. "I don't know, Little One," Bo hedged. "There's not much room to play out there. I'm afraid you might get hurt."

Will stood and offered, "I'll take them, Uncle Bo. I don't mind keeping an eye on them for a little while."

"Please, Daddy," Ciara begged.

"Oh, all right, if Will wants to play babysitter."

"Come on, guys," Will motioned for the little kids to follow him, and he was surrounded by a gaggle of girls, plus Theo and Johnny. "But you guys better listen to me, or else I'll make you come inside and help Grandma clean up."

Ciara was in front of the pack with Claire and opened the door. She stopped dead in her tracks and cried out in fear; then she turned and ran as fast as she could for her mommy and daddy.

"Little One, what is it?" Bo asked. Then he looked to the open doorway where Hope was standing. Silence descended upon the Pub as everyone waited to see what would happen. As a unit Bo and Carly stood. He handed Ciara off to Carly. Ciara went, whimpering, her arms locked tight around Carly's neck. Bo stepped in front of his wife and daughter.

"What are you doing here, Hope?"

Hope swallowed nervously, eyes darting around at the less-than-friendly crowd staring at her. Once upon a time, every one of these people had thought that she'd hung the moon; now they looked upon her with contempt. Yet another wrong dealt to me because of Carly Manning!

"I'm leaving town. I came to say goodbye."

"Toodles!" Melanie waved her fingers at Hope. "Don't let the door hit you in the…" Melanie's words were swallowed up behind Phillip's hand.

Looking extremely forlorn, Hope continued, her eyes boring into Carly's. "Please, I know that you have no reason whatsoever to help me and every reason to hate me, but I wondered if I could just say goodbye to Ciara."

"Ciara doesn't want to see you," Bo retorted. "Can't you see she's terrified of you?"

A stray tear slid down Hope's cheek and she sniffled, wiping it away. "Please, Carly. You know what it's like to have your child taken from you. Will you ask her if she'll let me talk to her? It'll only take a second, I swear. I just, I only want to give her a kiss."

Carly, who knew better than anyone the pain of having one's child taken, battled with her conscience. Ciara was shaking like a leaf in her arms, but Hope, for the first time in ages, seemed to be completely sincere. Heaving a sigh, Carly sat back down and turned Ciara around in her lap.

"Munchkin, are you all right?"

"Please don't let Mommy Hope take me, please!"

"Shush, baby, I won't let anybody take you. But I need you to listen very carefully because this is important. Hope is going away from Salem. You won't be seeing her anymore, probably not for a very long time. Do you understand?"

"I don't ever want to see her again!"

"I know, sweet girl, but would you like to say goodbye to her? Mommy and Daddy are right here with you, and we won't let anything happen to you. What would you like to do?"

In answer, Ciara snuggled deeper into Carly's arms. "Don't make me talk to her, Mommy, please." Then she started crying and Carly pulled her tighter, rocking her back and forth.

"You don't have to do anything that you don't want to."

Bo turned back to Hope. "There's your answer. You can leave now."

After an agonizingly long beat in which Hope sought out every person in the room with her eyes, she gave a terse nod and left without further comment.

"She's gone, Ciara. It's okay now, Munchkin."

Slowly Ciara raised her head and cast a wary eye towards the door. When she saw that Hope was gone she sagged visibly with relief. Carly could feel the anxiety drain out of her. "Mommy, can we please go home now? I'm sleepy."

Carly faked a yawn. "I think I'm a little sleepy, too. Why don't we say goodbye to everyone and thank them for the nice gifts?"

Bo overheard the exchange and said, "Thanks for all of this. Carly and I appreciate your love and support so much, but if you'll excuse us, I need to get these two ladies home for a little rest."

"Sweetheart, you get them home," Caroline told him. "We'll get everything cleaned up and have it brought to the house for you."

"Thanks, Ma." Bo took Ciara from Carly.

"Bye, everyone, and thank you for everything!" Carly called as they headed out. A chorus of farewells trailed them to the car.

When they'd gone, Caroline clapped her hands loudly. "All right, let's get going."

In no time at all, the gifts were loaded into two different cars for transport back to the house. Caroline had also packed up some of the leftovers for dinner that night so that Carys wouldn't have to cook.

Nick and Carys got home first, with Phillip and Melanie and Jack and Chelsea following them. Bo and Carly were in the living room, curled up on the couch watching a movie. Bo got up to help, but Nick shrugged off the offer.

"Let us get it to the nursery," he said. "You can help Mom sort it out later."

"Fair enough."

"Where's Ciara?" Chelsea asked.

"She fell asleep right after we got home," Carly said. "It really shook her up, seeing Hope like that."

"It shook me up," said Melanie.

"Mel, I know how you feel about Hope," Carly began. "But you've got to watch what you say around Ciara."

"I know, but look on the bright side. If Hope really does stay away for a while, they'll be no reason for any of us to mention her name."

"You're incorrigible, you know that?"

"Oh, I know, that's part of my charm."

"Well, your charm is holding up traffic," Chelsea said, shifting packages in her arms. "Grab a load and get a move on, will ya?" Melanie rolled her eyes and took part of Chelsea's burden, and the girls headed upstairs, bickering good-naturedly all the way.

The doorbell rang and Bo went to answer it, chuckling over the girls. He swung open the door and found Shawn standing there, fist raised to knock.

"Shawn," Bo said surprised.

"Um, hi, Dad," Shawn muttered. "I was wondering if I could talk to Carly, if she feels like seeing people, I mean, if she isn't too tired."

"Come on in, Son." Bo turned and led the way to the living room, Shawn trailing behind him.

"Shawn! Hi," Carly said, startled a bit when they appeared. Bo motioned for Shawn to take a seat in one of the overstuffed chairs while Bo resumed his position next to Carly.

Shawn twisted his hands repeatedly, unable to sit still. Nor would he meet Bo and Carly's gazes. Exhaling a shuddering sigh, he said at last, "I'm sorry." Having put the words out there seemed to give Shawn strength, and he raised his head. "I've been awful to you, Carly, and I came here to apologize. I wish, well, I wish a lot of things had happened differently, but they are what they are. I just wondered if we could, I don't know, start over."

Carly smiled serenely and reached out to take Shawn's hand. "I'd love nothing more, Shawn. I've missed you, very much."

Shawn returned her smile, the toothy grin she remembered from his childhood, and the stress and strain of the past couple of months seemed to melt away into nothingness.

"Dad, you're here!" Coming down the stairs Claire spotted her father sitting with her grandparents and with nothing more than a child's innocent belief she knew immediately that things were okay.

Shawn rose and met his daughter halfway. "Hey, Ladybug, I'm sorry that I've been so grouchy lately. Will you forgive me?"

Claire paused for a moment, pretending to be in deep thought over the prospect. Shawn began to tickle her, and she dissolved into a fit of giggles. "Okay, okay, I forgive you!"

Relinquishing his hold on Claire, Shawn stood to face his wife who was just behind their daughter. He got his arms around her waist and pulled her close. He saw that her blue eyes were misty, but he was pleased to note her happy grin. "What about you? Will you forgive me, Belle?"

"Don't I always?" They kissed, then, their first real kiss since Belle had left him at Hope's. It went on and on until Claire made gagging sounds.

"Jeez, Mom has a room upstairs, you know. Gross!"

That set everyone laughing, and the entire family trickled into the living room, a still sleepy Ciara lumbering down the stairs behind them. She went straight for her mother, curling herself around Carly's protruding belly.

"Hi, Munchkin, did you have a good sleep?" Carly asked, brushing Ciara's dark hair back from her face. Ciara nodded but the longer Carly stroked her hair, the more her eyelids began drooping.

"I think she's still having it," Bo remarked. Sure enough, in a matter of seconds, Ciara was sound asleep in Carly's lap.

"Poor mite; today must have really taken its toll on her," said Carys.

"She'll be all right," Shawn said with certainty. "She's surrounded by people who love her."

Belle turned adoring eyes on her husband before adding, "Can't have enough love, that's for sure."

"You can't have enough food, either." Melanie's observation came out of nowhere.

"Jesus, Mel, way to segue," said Chelsea.

"Hey, I'm starving," Melanie feigned offense. "Mom will back me up, right?" She looked to her mother for support, but Carly shook her head.

"I am surprisingly not hungry at the moment."

Melanie hopped up from the couch. "Suit yourselves, but Caroline packed away all that spinach dip and I, for one, am not going to let all of her efforts go to waste." The mention of spinach dip sparked some interest in the others, who meandered behind Melanie into the kitchen.

Bo stood and reached for Ciara, intent on tucking her back into bed, but Carly shook her head. "She's fine, baby, just let her rest. Oh, but will you grab a throw for us? It's a little chilly tonight."

Bo carefully covered Carly and Ciara with a chenille throw from the footlocker behind the loveseat. Then he cast an eye at the fireplace and decided a small fire, while perhaps not necessary, would certainly be welcoming and relaxing. He got the fire started and was headed into the kitchen to grab himself a beer when the doorbell rang.

"Who the hell could that be?" he wondered aloud. Carly's brow furrowed in confusion, but she only shrugged. "Only one way to find out," Bo muttered and opened the front door to a delivery boy from a local florist in town.

"I have a delivery for Dr. Carly Manning Brady," the spotty-faced teenager said and shoved a dozen long-stemmed white roses at Bo. Faced between taking the flowers and dropping them on the doorstep, Bo took them from the boy, who stood waiting, expectantly.

"Oh, yeah, sorry." Bo caught the gist and dug into his pocket for a few crumpled up bills which he handed to the boy. The teen thanked him and started back towards his truck; then he spun on his heels, waving an envelope in his hand.

"Hey, Mister, I'm supposed to give you this, too."

Bo took the envelope and studied it for some indication as to the sender. It was good stationery; thick vellum like his father might use, but beyond that Bo couldn't tell. Carrying them both to the living room he sat them in front of Carly.

"Bo! They're beautiful! You shouldn't have done that, though."

Bo shook his head. "I didn't, Princess. These aren't from me."

"Well, who else would've sent me roses?"

"Beats me; maybe Nick?"

"Maybe Nick, what?" The young man in question entered the living room carrying a tray of sundry snack items.

"Did you send me flowers, Nicky?"

"Sorry, Mom, but it wasn't me."

"Is there a card?" Melanie asked.

Bo handed Carly the envelope. "Just this. You must have a secret admirer, Princess."

Carly made a face as she took the envelope. Ciara stirred and crawled over to other side of the couch so that she could stretch out. Carly gently recovered her with the blanket before she opened the envelope.

She pulled out a solitary sheet of paper, folded in three parts. Unfolding it, she stared at the very distinct, calligraphy-like scrawl, disbelief causing the words to dance drunkenly on the page. The breath left her lungs; it felt as though the air had been sucked out of the entire room. She stood, wobbled, trying to get to Bo.

He caught her reflexively. He tried to pry the letter, if that's what it was, away from her, but Carly clutched it to her bosom in a death grip. Fearful nausea roiled in her stomach, and she swallowed back bile.

"Mom, Mom, what is it?" Nick went to Carly's other side. He put his arms around her since it seemed she would fall over at any moment, and when he touched her, Carly looked at him strangely. Emerald eyes glistening with tears, Carly showed Nicholas the letter.

"It's from your father. He's alive."

Then her eyes rolled back in her head, and she promptly fainted.


	48. Chapter 48

Chapter 48

Melanie watched her mother fall.

Carly collapsed, boneless, into Bo's waiting arms. Nick let go of their mother's waist, looking as though he had every intention of following her example. His eyes frantically scanned the paper in his hand, head shaking in denial.

Melanie gave herself a mental shake and moved in the direction of her mother and Bo. She was relieved to see that Carly was already coming around as Bo lowered her gently into the overstuffed chair. Melanie wedged her way between Bo and the couch opposite the chair.

"Mom, can you hear me?"

Jade eyes flew open as Carly attempted to push herself out of the chair. "Bo, he's not dead. He's coming for me, I know it! We have to get out of here, please."

The others had come into the living room and a dozen conversations were buzzing around Melanie's ears. Her mother was coming undone; there was no other word for it. Melanie had never seen a person so terrified. Ciara chose this unfortunate moment to wake up from her nap and seeing their mother in tears, set to wailing herself.

Chelsea snatched Ciara off the couch and attempted to comfort her little sister. "Will someone please tell me what the hell is going on?" she demanded in a rather loud whisper.

"Nicky, what is that paper you're holding?" Carys asked as Nick handed it to her without explanation.

"Mary, Michael and Bride," she gasped. Carys had no trouble recognizing the handwriting on the page in her hand.

"What does it say?" asked Jack.

" _My darling Katerina, I am certain this letter comes as a shock to you considering how we last parted company. You thought to leave me for dead, but you failed in that task as you have in so many others._

" _Oh, my love, your betrayal truly runs deep this time. You have forsaken every marriage vow you made to me, Katerina. The knife you have plunged into my heart is far more painful than the one you shoved into my gut. This second infidelity of yours cannot be swept away as I so graciously did the first one. I allowed your first bastard daughter to live beyond infancy. This second little wretch you have conceived will not be so lucky._

" _I have sent you white roses, my darling, as a symbol of purity. Once you were pure to me, my sweet Katerina, and so you shall be again. I am coming for you, and no one will be able to keep you from me."_

"This is insane," Nick whispered. "He's dead! I watched his body burn, for God's sake."

Carly was up in an instant and snatched the letter from Carys's hands, shaking it for maximum effect. "Nicky, this is your father's handwriting. I'd know it anywhere."

"But he's dead," Nick repeated. "I saw his body loaded into the furnace, Mom. I know what I saw, and what I saw was his remains burned to ash. There's no way he survived that."

"Nothing is as it seems with your father, Nicholas. He's a master of deception."

Bo had listened to the volley between mother and son, still trying to process the notion that Lawrence Alamain might be alive. "Carly, just wait a minute; let's think about this logically all right?"

He slipped his arms around her from behind and was not surprised to feel the fearful tremors running through her body. She was panting, her breath coming in uneven gasps. "First of all, you have got to calm down. Do you want to end up in the hospital again, or worse, have the baby too soon?"

"Of course not, Bo, but neither am I going to sit here twiddling my thumbs waiting on Lawrence to strike!" Carly whirled in his arms, jade eyes filled with fear and fire. "I will not let him take our baby! I won't!"

Bo couldn't believe the change that had come over Carly. He could read it in her eyes, plain as day – she was ready to run, no matter what he said. The terror that had descended on her had robbed her of her ability to reason. Framing her face so that she was forced to look him in the eye, Bo begged her to stop and think.

"Princess, no one is going to take our daughter. No one is going lay a finger on you, not while I'm still drawing breath."

"But it's Lawrence. Bo, he's a monster. He can't be stopped; he won't stop, not until he destroys all that I hold dear."

"Listen to me, Carly. Lawrence is insane, he's a psychopath, but he's still just a man. And a man can be killed. I will lay his head at your feet, Princess, before I let him hurt you again. I swear it. Do you believe me?"

Carly nodded slowly and whispered, "I believe you."

"Good. Now please sit down. You're shaking like a leaf, and right now the prospect of you going into early labor scares me more than anything." Carly allowed Bo to help her into the chair.

Then he took a still crying Ciara from Chelsea and laid her in Carly's arms. Ciara relaxed a good deal when her mother's arms went around her, and Bo covered them both with a blanket. Carly's mothering instinct took charge immediately, and she began to push back the clawing terror in her own heart in an effort to soothe her little girl.

"Chelsea, I want you to call your grandmother and ask her to come over here. We'll need her to help Carly with Ciara." Chelsea obeyed without question.

"Phillip, get Victor over here and have him bring as many of his minions as he can. Mel, you stick close to your mom and Ciara. I'm depending on you to keep Carly calm so she doesn't have any more contractions." Melanie nodded and immediately planted herself on the ottoman next to her mother and sister.

"Nicholas, you wake up whoever you have to back in Alamania. I want to talk to morticians, body guards, cleaning staff, anyone who might have seen Lawrence's body, got it?"

"But he's dead," Nick countered. "I know that he's dead."

"He may well be, Nicholas, but I want proof. I don't care if we have to test that damn jar of ashes Vivian had for DNA. I want proof that the bastard is dead."

"Come on, Nicky," Carys tugged gently on his arm. "I'll help you." Nick followed Carys to the staircase, but then he turned back to look at Bo.

"What if he isn't dead, Bo?"

Nicholas may have been a grown man and leader of a country, but at that moment in time, Bo saw a scared little boy, terrified of the monsters that were lurking in the dark.

"Then I'll kill him, son. Don't you worry about that."

Nick nodded once and followed Carys upstairs.

"Dad, what do you need me to do?" Shawn asked. "Belle and I want to help."

Bo clapped a hand on Shawn's shoulder. "Thanks, son, I'm going to need you. Call your uncle Roman. Tell him what's happened and give him the address of the florist that delivered these." Bo thrust the card at Shawn, who gave a clipped nod and pulled out his cell phone.

Bo went to Carly, then, and knelt down beside her chair.

"How're we doing, Princess?"

Carly gave a watery smile. "I won't lie; I'm scared to death, but I'm trying to be brave."

"You're the bravest woman I know, and I promise you that I'll keep you safe, no matter what. I need to go out for just a bit. I want to talk to Rafe Hernandez. I need him to send investigators over to Chesterwood because it's outside my jurisdiction."

"You think Vivian could be involved?"

Bo shrugged. "I'm not closing off any avenue of possibility right now. Let's just say I'll feel better knowing that dear, old Vivian is still sacked out on thorazine. Plus, Rafe can have his handwriting experts at the Bureau take a look at this letter."

"All right, but please don't go alone. Wait until your father gets here and take one of his bodyguards with you."

"Dad's on his way right now, Bo," Phillip interrupted.

"Please," Carly practically begged. "I'll feel so much better knowing that someone is watching your back."

"Okay, Princess, I'll wait."

Carly sagged with relief. "Thank you."

"Don't you know by now I'd do anything for you?"

"The feeling is mutual," she answered with a smile.

"I'm glad. That means you won't have any trouble staying put for me, right?"

Carly, realizing Bo had her exactly where he wanted her, grimaced, but said at last, "Yes, Commissioner, I'll stay put."

It was Bo's turn to smile, then, before dropping kisses on both Carly's and Ciara's heads. Ciara, who had been very quiet since cuddling up next to Carly, now turned deeply sad eyes to her parents.

"I don't want the bad man to hurt Mommy or the baby, Daddy."

"Oh, Little One," Bo whispered and leaned as close to her as he could. "No one is going to hurt any of you. I'll keep you all safe, I promise."

"What do you think?"

Rafe looked up from the letter that Bo had given him. "Well, obviously I don't have anything to compare the handwriting to, but plainly someone is threatening Carly."

"You think?" Bo retorted smartly. "I sort of figured that part out on my own, G-man."

Sami rolled her eyes at her uncle. "Uncle Bo, Rafe is an FBI agent, not a psychic. You can't possibly expect him to be able to tell you if this is really from Lawrence Alamain."

Bo groaned and scrubbed his face with his hands. "I'm sorry, man. I'm just on edge, to say the least."

"I can imagine," Rafe offered, not without sympathy. "Look, I've got a buddy in D.C. He's the best there is in forgeries. You get me some samples of Alamain's handwriting, and I'll get them to Walt."

"How long will that take?"

Rafe shrugged. "He'll need the originals so if we sent everything overnight to him he should be able to give us a definitive answer within 24 hours."

Bo shook his head. "I don't want to risk sending these with a courier service. Would you be willing to fly them to D.C. yourself?"

Rafe nearly refused, but then he read the pure anguish on Bo's face. The man was hanging by a thread. "Sure, man, no problem, and before I go, I'll have someone out of the field office in Springfield look into to the Vivian angle. Like you said, it can't hurt to check every avenue."

"Thanks. I really appreciate this."

"Bo, what does your gut say? Do you really believe Alamain could still be alive?"

"I'm no stranger to people coming back from the dead or faking their own deaths, for that matter," Bo answered ruefully. "But…I don't know, Rafe. Something about this just seems off to me. I don't know what to believe."

"Does Carly think it's really Lawrence?" Sami asked.

Bo nodded. "Without a doubt. It's strange, too, because when she first came to me for help, she was positive that she'd killed him. She told me that she'd risked capture by the castle guards just to wait the extra few minutes it took to make sure he had no pulse.

"But tonight when she saw that letter…she was ready to go underground. I think she expected the S.O.B to break down the front door or something. I've known Carly a long time, and I've seen her scared plenty of times, but no matter the circumstances, she never ran. She's always been ready to fight for herself and for the people she loves. Her first instinct tonight was to run. Lawrence Alamain took away her ability to defend herself. For that alone, I'd gladly see him in hell; for the living hell he put her through, I'll send him there myself."

"Uncle Bo, what are you saying?" Sami had never been afraid of her uncle but the calculating expression in his normally laughing eyes gave her a turn.

"I'm saying, Samantha, that if by some twisted action of fate, Lawrence Alamain is alive, he won't be that way for long."


	49. Chapter 49

Chapter 49

"Agent Hernandez, I'm Dr. Danielle Howard, Chief of Staff at Chesterwood. How may I help you?"

Rafe got the impression that Dr. Howard would rather not help him at all, but he didn't let that stop him. His regional SAC had gotten a court order just after midnight so that Rafe could question Vivian Alamain and the Chesterwood staff prior to leaving for D.C. Bo had not been kidding when he'd said he wanted to move fast.

"Dr. Howard, I'm sorry to trouble you so early in the morning, but this really couldn't wait. We have reason to believe that one of your patients may have pertinent information on a case, and I need to speak with her immediately."

"You do realize that it's barely seven in the morning and that we had to wake Ms. Alamain and her primary doctor, Agent Hernandez?"

"Yes, ma'am, but this really couldn't wait."

Dr. Howard gave a longsuffering sigh and turned on a Manolo Blahnik encased heel. "Very well, Agent Hernandez, follow me."

Rafe trailed behind the tall, cool blonde down a series of winding hallways to a beautifully polished mahogany door. It seemed oddly out of place in the sterile environment of the other corridors they had traversed to get there. The door opened wide to reveal an impeccably kept office – Dr. Howard's, the desk plate read – and three people, one of which was Vivian Alamain.

"Agent Hernandez, this is Dr. Whit Roderick. He has overseen Ms. Alamain's care since her arrival."

The older man, the epitome of someone's storybook grandfather, extended his hand to Rafe. "Agent Hernandez, may we speak outside briefly? There are a few things I simply must tell you."

Rafe cast a glance at Vivian, who sat smiling, quite stupidly, as though they were all about to embark on some fun-filled day at an amusement park. Then he nodded and stepped back into the uninviting hallway. "All right, Doctor, let's hear it."

"Please listen carefully, Agent Hernandez, because I must explain this in the most careful of terms so as not to violate doctor-patient privileges. When Ms. Alamain was brought to us some months ago, she was deeply disturbed and dangerously so. Her initial nurse, a lovely young woman with a most gentle countenance with our patients, had to be reassigned to work in another area of the hospital."

"Why?" Rafe asked.

"Alicia, the nurse, was dark-haired and green-eyed, much like Dr. Carly Manning. Ms. Alamain became so enraged upon seeing Alicia that she attacked the poor girl with her bare hands, screaming to the heavens that Carly Manning was trying to kill her. Alicia suffered a concussion and several deep lacerations on her arms which required stitches."

"What did Vivian cut her with?"

Here the doctor's eyes narrowed. "With nothing more than her fingernails, Agent Hernandez; had we not gotten her under control in time, I fear that Ms. Alamain would have caused even further harm to young Alicia.

"I can see you are wondering why I am telling you this story, but I beg your indulgence just another few moments, please. We learned very quickly that certain things triggered a violent reaction in Ms. Alamain, and for her safety and ours we avoid those things at all costs. None of our female staff with dark hair come near her. I have abandoned all efforts to talk with her regarding her nephew, Lawrence, and his son, Nicholas.

"With each passing day, Vivian has retreated farther and farther into the shadows of her girlhood. Her world does not extend past her teenage years, I'm afraid. She seems to have completely forgotten the remainder of her life, and while it is the first principle of medicine to attempt to heal both the mind and body, I am confident that to force Vivian to remember certain events and people would be catastrophic for her and quite possibly, anyone within her physical reach."

"Dr. Roderick, with all due respect, I don't care what Vivian's reaction might be. I've got a court order to question her, and I will enforce it."

"I warn you, Agent Hernandez, you are likely to put yourself in harm's way if you insist on ignoring my advice. Vivian Alamain is a very sick woman, one who remains very dangerous when provoked. You'll do as you must, of course, but you are likely to set off a reaction in my patient which will send her into a fit of aggressive hysteria."

"Then you'd best get the straight jacket and sedatives ready, Doctor, because I'm about to upset your patient." Without waiting on a response, Rafe went back into the office. He pulled up a chair so that he was directly in front of Vivian.

"Good morning, Vivian," Rafe's tone was pleasant enough, but Vivian seemed so spaced out he figured he could've yelled at her and she'd still have that stupid grin plastered on her face.

"Hello. Are you one of the new servants that Father hired? We've been without a stable hand for ages, and I do so adore riding out in the mornings."

 _Stable hand_? Rafe thought. _This should be good._

"Vivian, I'm Rafe Hernandez, remember? I've come to ask you some questions about Lawrence."

The child-like visage instantly vanished, and Rafe found himself regarded by the cold, unfeeling gaze of a snake. "My darling Lawrence is a great man, and you are not fit to speak his name."

"Don't you mean he was a great man, Vivian? After all, Lawrence is dead, right? I mean, that's why you tried to murder Carly Manning, to avenge his death."

Vivian smirked and looked away from Rafe. "Of course Lawrence isn't dead. What a preposterous idea? He's alive and he will come for me. He will save me from this place." Vivian finished in a whisper. She relaxed into her chair, the veil of insanity descending once more.

Frustrated, Rafe leaned into Vivian's face despite the warnings from the two doctors behind him. "Vivian, are you telling me that Lawrence is alive?"

Vivian laughed then, a maniacal twittering that had Rafe wanting to look over his shoulder. "Of course, Lawrence is alive!" she shouted. Then she began to scream.

Carly stood at the window of her bedroom, forehead resting against the glass. Her hands rested protectively over her protruding belly, as if by adopting such a posture, she could better guard her unborn daughter against the hidden monsters of the night. There had to be at least two dozen private guards patrolling the grounds of her home, but even though they were armed to the teeth, she still could not fully relax.

The bedroom door creaked as it opened and Carly glanced up to catch Bo's reflection in the window pane. He walked up behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Rafe's here, Princess."

Carly nodded and turned to face her husband. "Let's go talk to him, then."

His hand wrapped around hers, and Bo could feel the tremor that seemed to constantly run through her body. She'd been a quiet wreck since last night; outwardly she tried to hold it together, but the abject terror she felt was riding close to the surface. Everyone had done their best throughout the day to maintain a degree of normalcy, trying to pretend that Carly's crazed, presumed-dead husband was actually dead and not threatening her very existence.

Carly and Bo entered the living room, and the sight of their family did a lot to stem the tide of panic that had been rising since last night. Ciara and Claire were deeply engrossed in a new Wii game. Their laughter was normal, and normal was good. Victor and Caroline were both still there, neither wanting to leave until they'd heard Rafe's news.

Nicky was on the couch next to Carys. Her son looked as though he'd aged overnight. He'd been up most of the night, Carly knew, on the phone with various contacts in Alamania. It didn't appear that he'd slept much at all.

Chelsea and Jack were talking with Shawn and Belle, while Melanie flipped through a magazine, her feet in Phillip's lap. At the sound of footsteps on the stairs, Melanie shot off the love seat and ran to Carly's side.

"Mom, how was your nap? Are you hungry? Do you want something to drink?" Melanie fussed over her mother all the way to the sofa where Carly settled next to Nicky.

"I'm fine, sweetheart, but thank you."

Melanie didn't move, though; she perched on the arm of the couch, hesitant to let Carly out of her sight. She was convinced that as long as she could see her mother, hear her voice, then nothing bad would happen to her. It had taken Phillip bodily removing her, so that Carly could take a shower and lie down for a rest that afternoon.

Carly could feel Bo standing behind her, a sentinel, always her knight and protector. Then he asked Rafe to tell them all what he had learned. The adults settled down to listen; the girls continued to play, but the sound dropped away for Carly as she honed in on Rafe.

"I went to try and question Vivian this morning," Rafe began. "She was…crazy."

Melanie rolled her eyes. "Tell us something we didn't know."

"Whether she was faking, I can't say, but her doctor told me that Vivian attacked a nurse who looked sort of like Carly. He told me they don't allow any dark-haired women near her. Her doctor said Vivian basically thinks she's a young girl still living in Alamainia with her family. She never mentions Lawrence, Nicholas, Carly, none of it."

"But you aren't convinced," Bo finished, able to read the doubt in Rafe's eyes.

"I'm no shrink, but I can tell when someone's lying," Rafe answered. "As soon as I mentioned Lawrence, Vivian showed another side of herself – the side we all know and love to hate." Here, Rafe paused as though unsure how to continue. "She said Lawrence is alive and that he's coming for her. Then she lost her freaking mind. She started screaming and her doctor had to sedate her."

"Has she had any visitors?" asked Bo. "Phone calls, letters, anything like that?"

Rafe shook his head. "I did a cursory check of the hospital records before I left for Washington, and it seems our Ms. Vivian is Chesterwood's most unpopular patient in its history. From what I could tell, no one has contacted her, and she hasn't tried to make contact with anyone beyond the doctor and nurses.

"Other agents will be on site tomorrow to interview the staff, dig a little deeper, but for now, I think we're better off concentrating on this." Rafe held up the letter, sealed against the elements in an evidence bag.

"Walt had some interesting things to say about this little number. He compared it with the journal you sent with me, Nick, and at first Walt said that both the letter and the journal were written by the same hand."

At Carly's sharp intake of breath, Rafe rushed ahead. "But then he began to notice a few anomalies. Certain of the letters –R and Y – are different in the letter than in the journal. But the differences only appear a few times, in darling, purity and wretch. Lawrence's handwriting in the journal is perfectly consistent."

"So it's a forgery?" Nick's brow furrowed in confusion.

"Walt said if he had to swear in a courtroom that these were written by Lawrence Alamain, he'd be hard pressed to say so. But he couldn't say they weren't, either. We had it dusted for fingerprints, but the only ones we lifted belong to people in this room. The person behind this is extremely methodical and careful. I'm sorry." Rafe truly felt horrible; he'd really wanted to bring Bo and Carly answers.

Carly gave a rueful smile. "I'm not surprised in the slightest, Rafe. Lawrence loves to plot and plan; I'd expect nothing less from him now. Changing his handwriting a bit so that we can't know one way or the other is all part of his plan to make me suffer."

Carly had been referring to Lawrence in the present tense ever since the letter had come; Bo didn't think she realized it, but neither did he think he should point it out to her now.

"There are still a lot of ways this letter can help us, though," Rafe went on. "Someone wrote it. Someone took it to the florist. No matter how careful this person is, they left us a trail. We've just got to find the breadcrumbs on it and follow them."

"The ashes!" Nick exclaimed suddenly, drawing every set of eyes to him. Excited by his revelation he jumped from the couch. "You said it yourself, Bo, last night. All we need to do is run a DNA test on the ashes inside Vivian's urn."

Catching Nick's enthusiasm, Bo turned to Victor. "Vivian carried that urn everywhere. What did you do with Vivian's stuff?"

"I turned it over to the DA's investigators, but that urn won't be of any use to you, I'm afraid."

Bo blinked, once. "Why not?"

Victor took a moment to clear his throat. "The contents of that urn are not the earthly remains of Lawrence Alamain, of that I can assure you."

"And you know this because…" Bo trailed off, waiting to hear Victor's explanation.

"The night after Phillip and Melanie's wedding, Vivian left the urn in the parlor. She'd been carting the damnable thing around all that afternoon, talking to it. Then she drank herself into a stupor, and poor Henderson was forced to haul her to her room.

"When Henderson passed back through the parlor to clean up after Vivian's party of one, he accidentally knocked over the blasted urn. Ashes went everywhere, and once Henderson cleaned up the mess he loaded the urn down with ashes from the fire."

"Well, that's just great, isn't it?" Nick remarked, not bothering to disguise his sarcasm. "Your clumsy butler destroys the one solid source of answers we have, and the best handwriting examiner at the FBI can't say for sure if my father wrote this bloody note!"

"Nicky, please, sweetheart, getting angry won't solve anything," Carly said quietly.

"Mom, I think I should go back to Alamainia."

"That's a good idea," Bo responded even as Carly was shaking her head.

"No, it's an awful idea. I don't want you going back there, not with your father alive. You don't know who among the staff are one his spies. You'd be walking into a trap."

As gently as possible, Nick knelt in front of his mother, taking her hands in his. "Mom, I have to go. If Father is alive, he will have left some clue in the castle, I'm sure of it. I am the only one who can find it. If I leave tonight, there's a very good chance I can be back home within a week."

Carly regarded her son carefully, noting the resolute glimmer in his eyes. He would go, she knew, and so she gave her blessing, not willing to part harshly with him even for a brief separation.

"Don't stay away too long," Carly whispered. "You've a new sister coming who will not want her brother to miss her debut."

"I wouldn't miss that for the world." Nick rose and spoke directly to his stepfather. "I'll be in contact as soon as we've landed."

"Take care. You have Shane Donovan's contact information, right?" Bo asked and Nick nodded. Listening from the couch, Carly pieced together that Nicky had already discussed his impending trip with Bo. While part of her was ecstatic that Nicky and Bo had grown so close, another part of her was irritated at being left out of the loop until the last possible minute.

"Good, he knows what's going on and he'll be able to help you should anything go…wrong."

"It'll be all right," Nick responded with a confidence he didn't quite possess. Then he and Carys retrieved their already-packed bags and made their goodbyes. When they'd gone, Ciara told her mommy that she was sleepy, and Carly and Belle had taken both Ciara and Claire to get ready for bed.

Bo was grateful for Carly's absence from the room because it meant he could speak more freely. "I don't think it's a secret to anyone that Carly believes Lawrence is alive and is coming after her. We may not believe it, but she does, and that's all that matters."

Everyone dutifully nodded.

"Someone is threatening her, that much we know. Until we can say otherwise, I think the best course of action is to proceed under the assumption that Lawrence is alive. Meanwhile, we're going to investigate every single lead that comes along, trying to get to the bottom of this."

"I need you to keep working the Vivian angle, Rafe. Can you get a warrant to search through any of her crap that wasn't destroyed by my father's butler?"

"Consider it done. If Vivian was or is hiding something, my people will find it."

"They'd better. Roman is tearing apart the florist shop as we speak, so we're hoping for a good lead there. The guards that Nick and Victor have supplied will be watching the house day and night, and all of us will be accompanied by one when we leave the house. Ma, you're going to have some at the Pub, too. Don't argue," he added when Caroline made an attempt to do so.

"Above all," Bo continued. "Please do everything in your power to help Carly stay calm. If we keep our cool, she will, too."

"We will, Dad," Shawn promised. "We're here to help you and Carly."

Bo nodded, truly thankful in his heart for each and every person in the room with him, who were, in one way or another, family. And if Pop had taught him anything at all, it was family first.

Belle came back to the living room and told Bo that Carly had already turned in for the night.

"That's a good idea," Bo told them all. "The last twenty-four hours have been tough and I'm afraid this has only just begun. We should all try and rest. There's nothing more we can do for tonight."

When Bo entered their bedroom, he found Carly sitting up in bed and fully immersed in a book. When he saw the title, he chuckled. His bride, who had not yet looked up from her story, nonetheless cautioned him, "This is an incredible work of fiction, thank you very much."

Bo continued laughing as he stretched out beside her and tried to read a few words over her shoulder. "I'd nearly forgotten about your little…fetish." Bo's grin only caused Carly to huff indignantly.

"It's a love story, Bo, how many times do I have to tell you?"

"Well, let's see, the movie came out in what, 1992, and you dragged me to see it four times in one week, all the while trying to convince me that underneath a story about a blood-sucking dead guy lay a beautiful, timeless romance."

"Mmmph." Carly cut her eyes at him. "Dracula is a love story, Bo, and this," she shook the book in her hand a bit for emphasis. "Is that same love story, as told by Mina Murray Harker. It's fascinating."

Bo finally read the title. " _Dracula, My Love_. Oh, yeah, I can't wait to read that one. Maybe I'll only have to tote garlic around in my pocket for a few weeks instead of months of jumping every time a freaking dog barked like I did when you made me watch that movie."

Carly laughed at loud, remembering that Bo had indeed been extra jumpy after she'd subjected him to Dracula all those years ago. She closed the book, casting it to the bedside table.

"Guys are supposed to love movies with blood and guts in them, you know. It isn't my fault that you couldn't appreciate a cinematic masterpiece."

"I can't help it. Dracula gives me the creeps. I told you how bad Roman scared me with it when I was just a kid and you dragged me to see the new, more horrifying version of it anyway. It didn't help that you spent the whole movie drooling over Gary Oldman, either," he finished with a pout.

Laughter trilled out of Carly. Then she put her arms around Bo and tugged his face towards hers, all the cares of their world melting away as their lips met in a brief, but tender kiss.

Snuggling further into his arms she whispered, "How do you do it?"

"Do what, Princess?"

"I came in here because I didn't want to talk anymore about Lawrence. I was reading because I couldn't bear the thought of closing my eyes without you here next to me because every time I try, all I can imagine is Lawrence coming after us, hurting you or our children. Then you came in just now and made me feel better. You save me, Bo. You're always saving me."

Bo smiled as he gazed down into the eyes of the woman who held him, heart, body and soul. "We save each other, Princess. It doesn't matter what or who comes at us. As long as we face it together, we will overcome it. There isn't a force in this world that's stronger than us, than our love. When you get scared, trust in that."

Carly nodded as Bo's lips descended on hers. "I will."

Then Bo eased her down under the covers and made her forget everything, but him.


	50. Chapter 50

Chapter 50

Three weeks passed.

Bo and Roman, together with Rafe, chased down every single, solitary lead they caught wind of. Each one, without exception, led nowhere, and each dead end left Bo feeling more hopelessly frustrated.

They learned from the florist that the person ordering the flowers had paid in cash and had presented a sealed envelope to be delivered with the arrangement. They'd also learned the purchaser was a man. The shop was one of the older flower shops in Salem, and the owner, Mrs. Margaret Graham, did not welcome Bo's inquiries into her lack of modern security systems.

"I find the use of cameras to be far too intrusive, Commissioner. My clients appreciate a modicum of privacy, and that's why I stay in business, year after year." Mrs. Graham, whom Bo judged to be barely a decade older than he himself, seemed instead to have stepped out of another century.

Her signage proudly displayed that only cash or checks were acceptable forms of payment. She had a handwritten receipt book to go along with her handwritten log book. The log book contained every nuance of any given flower arrangement right down to the type of ribbon she used, Mrs. Graham had informed them, but no, she didn't make any notes as to who had actually purchased a flower arrangement.

"Privacy, you know," she had intoned.

When shown a picture of Lawrence, Mrs. Graham had carefully studied the photo, but had at last shaken her head. "I've never seen that man before," she told them, only to then exclaim, "Yes, I have! He was the foreigner who was murdered several months ago. Some said his wife had done it and fled here to hide."

Another sad head shake, "So much sadness and sorrow in the world today; don't you agree, Commissioner?"

"Yes, ma'am," Bo had answered through clenched teeth. "But that's part of the reason why we're here. These roses, purchased at your shop, were delivered to my home, to my wife. The letter attached to it threatened both her life and the life of our unborn daughter. I need your help, Mrs. Graham, to track down the man who paid for the order. Until this man and any of his accomplices are apprehended, my wife and child are in eminent danger."

The lady had looked appropriately horrified and had given a description of the man who had come into her shop to Bo's best sketch artist. The resulting sketch, Bo was not surprised to see, looked nothing at all like Lawrence. Still, copies had been distributed all over town in the hopes that someone would catch a glimpse of the mystery man.

Nothing had come of the sketch.

No further orders had been placed at Mrs. Graham's.

No one was seen to be lurking about Bo and Carly's house.

No more mysterious letters or packages were delivered to Carly.

Nothing seemed out of place at the hospital where against Bo's wishes, Carly had resumed her duties, insisting that she would only go crazy if she didn't have something to do.

None of them were ever followed.

No evidence was uncovered at Chesterwood and further attempts to question Vivian led only to her proclamations that she had no such nephew named Lawrence as her only brother Leopold and his wife Helena had not yet been gifted with children.

In Alamania, Nick and Carys had come up equally empty-handed. The coroner whose unpleasant task had been to cremate Lawrence's remains had sworn upon the head of his newborn grandson that Lord Alamain was dead, offering up his notes and medical files to support his claims. Having fired most of the men who had sworn fealty to his father, Nick had returned to his country finding that those men had more or less disappeared. Besides, Carys had pointed out rather logically, if Lawrence's men did know anything about his death, faked or otherwise, they'd be highly unlikely to share that knowledge with Nick.

Rifling through his father's private library had revealed that the man possessed a rather twisted penchant for rare and obscure works on subjects ranging from sadism and torture to alchemy and witchcraft. Other than leaving Carys squeamish and reiterating the deterioration of his father's mind, the contents of his father's library proved worthless to their quest. Nick had to conclude that if his father were indeed alive, he'd left no trail indicating the fact in Alamania.

On Friday morning of the third week, Nick had telephoned Bo to say that he and Carys were on their way home, news that Bo knew would put a smile on Carly's face.

And so it was on Friday afternoon, Bo found himself at home, alone. Ciara was at a sleep-over with Claire at Sami and Rafe's, suitably armed guards in tow. Carly was still at work. Shawn and Belle were having dinner with John and Marlena, and Melanie was with Phillip at Titan helping him plan some sort of formal shareholder reception. Chelsea was visiting with Kate, going over wedding plans. Chelsea wanted something simple; Grandma Kate thought her granddaughter deserved something more along the lines of Lady Diana's wedding to Prince Charles. Bo's money was riding on Chelsea.

In the privacy of the bedroom he shared with Carly, Bo stripped and padded naked into the bathroom. He turned the hot water fully on, with just a trickle of cold water thrown in for good measure, and stepped gratefully under the shower's spray. His mind was running at ninety to nothing, trying to get one step ahead of this invisible threat which plagued them.

Regardless of which direction he went, the answers he sought remained just out of reach.

Bo felt helpless.

Helpless was not a particularly fond state of being for Bo Brady.

The hot shower having done absolutely nothing to relieve him of his tension, Bo shut off the water, using a good bit more force than was actually necessary. The shower door received no better treatment and banged open to knock against the tiled wall.

"What did that poor, defenseless shower door do to you?" asked his wife from her perch on the bathroom vanity.

Bo grumbled something about it having gotten in his way and walked tiredly over to where Carly was sitting and holding out a fluffy bath towel for him. He draped the towel around his waist and grabbed hold of her. Carly let out a little squeal.

"Hey, mister, you're getting me all wet." Admittedly it wasn't much of a protest since Carly only pressed herself closer to her wet, practically nude husband.

"I love you when you're all wet," he leered. Then he dove in for a kiss that quickly set Carly's head to spinning.

As he kissed his wife, Bo realized several things at once.

First, Carly was wearing some sort of dress.

Second, she was barefooted and also bare-legged, meaning that the only two likely obstacles between the two of them were her panties and his towel.

Third, they were in the bathroom.

Which had a mirror.

He nearly lost it then and there.

He helped Carly stand and turned her to face the counter. She read his mind, like always, a seductive smile playing across her beautiful face. With one hand she got rid of the towel. Not to be outdone, Bo pushed her dress over her hips, discovering that when his brilliant wife had taken off whatever hosiery she'd worn to work, she'd also slipped out of her panties.

Their eyes met in the mirror as Bo slid home inside Carly.

Much later that night, Bo and Carly were seated at the table in the kitchen. Having scrounged in the fridge for leftovers they were enjoying a meal of lemon chicken, squash casserole and green beans.

Carly was relieved that Bo was at last relaxed.

The past few weeks, he'd been like a charged stick of dynamite, ready to go off at any moment. Since the night of Rafe's visit, they had not talked about Lawrence. They had talked around him; individually they had talked to others about him. But they had not spoken to one another, not about Lawrence, not about the letter, in three weeks. All Carly's knowledge of Bo's investigation had come from someone else. She needed to hear from her husband; she needed Bo to talk to her.

Carly knew in her heart that Bo was only trying to protect her. But not talking about the threat that Lawrence posed was tearing her apart. After all, if she couldn't confide in Bo, then where did that leave her?

 _Alone_ , her subconscious supplied.

Deciding that was unsatisfactory, Carly cleared her throat.

"Bo, please talk to me."

To his credit, Bo didn't ask her to specify her desired topic of conversation. He laid his fork on his plate and took a long pull of his beer.

"I'm chasing a ghost."

Carly reached across the table for Bo's hand. His fingers twined with hers, tracing her wedding rings.

"Every clue is useless. Every lead we investigate comes to nothing. If I didn't know better, I'd think we'd imagined the whole damn thing, Princess."

"But we didn't, Bo. Lawrence is out there, and he's coming for me. Can't you feel it?"

Bo looked carefully into her eyes, wanting more than anything to get rid of the fear imbedded there.

"That's just it, Carly. That letter claims to be from Lawrence; I'm not so certain it is."

"I don't understand," Carly said though she did. She just couldn't quite believe what Bo was suggesting.

"What if this isn't from Lawrence?" Bo asked her.

"How could it not be?" she countered.

"Then what's he waiting on?" Bo shouted.

Carly flinched, unable to stop her reaction.

"I'm sorry, Princess, I shouldn't have yelled at you."

She shook her head. "This is classic Lawrence, Bo. He thrives on terror, feeds off of my fear. Lawrence is a master in the art of torture, but physical pain is nothing without mental anguish. That's a lesson he taught me all too well."

"But why did he wait until now to resurface, that's what I don't understand, Carly? Why didn't he immediately follow you to Salem? Why not come after you when you were in jail for his murder, or when Nick first came back into your life? What stopped him when you were in the hospital after Vivian tried to kill you? Hell, why'd he even let you leave the goddamn country in the first place?"

"He was waiting, don't you see?"

But Bo didn't see. He truly could not understand why Lawrence, if alive, would have let Carly go on with her life this long, and he said as much. He quickly understood, however, that had been the wrong thing to say.

Tears filled Carly's eyes and her voice trembled. "He wants me to suffer, Bo. He knows that the only way to truly hurt me, to punish me, is to take away everyone I cherish. He took Melanie, he drove Nicky away, and now he's come back to take our daughter. He will kill everyone I love until I'm alone again, with him."

Carly broke down. Bo moved to her side and took her in his arms. Shaking she told him of the awful nightmare she'd had months before, when she'd first learned of her pregnancy. She told him how she'd searched through the house to find it empty of their family until she'd gone to the nursery and found Lawrence, Vivian and Hope there.

"Princess, you have to know that was only a dream."

"Was it, Bo? It seems very real from where I'm standing."

"Listen to me. Vivian is locked away in a padded cell. She's not getting out. And Hope is gone; she won't be bothering us anymore. And Lawrence…"

"Lawrence is what, Bo? Go ahead and say what you're thinking. Tell me I'm the crazy one, then. Tell me that some asshat somewhere is playing a sick joke on me. Tell me that Lawrence is dead and that this wild goose chase we've been on for the past three weeks is the elaborate game of a stranger."

Carly had grown hysterical. Knowing that, Bo still couldn't make himself shut up.

"What if it is?"

Carly stared at him. She took a deep, shuddering breath, heedless of the tears flowing down her face. "How is it possible that you, of all people, don't believe me?"

Sensing that they were headed into dangerous territory, Bo stepped towards Carly. She took a step back, and that made him want to fall to his knees and beg for forgiveness. Hands up in a conciliatory gesture, Bo tried to right his wrongs. "Carly, it's not that I don't believe you. It's only that it's so hard to believe. Lawrence is pronounced dead, but he isn't – that's insane! People just don't come back from the dead!"

 _Fuck_ , he thought when her eyes flashed angrily at him. _I did not just say that._ But he had said it, and now Carly snorted at him and pushed him aside.

"Right, Bo, sure. Dead spouses suddenly turning up alive; that's preposterous. Fucking crazy, right? Nothing like that has ever happened around here before."

He watched from the kitchen as Carly stalked into the living room and scooped up her purse. She threw on a sweater and ran for the door, moving quite fast for a woman in so advanced a stage of pregnancy. The sound of the front door closing jolted him back to reality, and he ran after her, only to see the taillights of her car disappearing into the night.

A couple of the guards were running full-tilt towards a nondescript Mercedes. Bo let the front door close behind him and jumped into the backseat of the car.

"Follow my wife!" he barked at them. _Please, God, let me find her before she does something stupid!_

Inside the now-empty home of Bo and Carly, underneath one of the kitchen countertops, a tiny speck of metal was hidden. It was one of a handful of such devices placed strategically throughout the house, including Bo and Carly's bedroom. All of these devices transmitted the goings-on of the Brady household to a central location not too terribly far away.

Not a single person in the household had thought to have the place swept for bugs.

Sometimes things just worked together so perfectly...

He found her at the river walk, sitting on a bench.

He stood just a few feet off, waiting on her to acknowledge him.

A lengthy moment passed before she turned to regard him through eyes swollen from crying. "It didn't take you long to find me."

"Turns out your son had all of our cars outfitted with GPS trackers," Bo told her. "That seriously cut down on my search time."

Carly cracked the slightest grin and Bo took two steps toward her.

"Part of me hopes that he is alive, Lawrence, I mean."

"Why?" Carly stood and took a step in Bo's direction.

"So I can fight him for you. So I can kill him for you."

Carly moved a step closer.

"I'm afraid you'll get hurt, Bo. I'm afraid that this is only happening in order to come between us. I'm afraid of losing you again!"

One step at a time, they moved toward each other until she was in his arms, his face buried in her neck.

"I wasn't there before, Carly. I couldn't protect you from Lawrence. But I swear to God that I will protect you now."

"There were days that I thought I'd never escape, that I'd never have another good thing in my life without Lawrence defiling it in some way."

Bo kissed her then, tenderly, reverently. "I know now that only good will come, my love, to us," he whispered.

"Do you really believe that, Bo?"

"Oh, yes, Princess, and I'll make you believe it, too."


	51. Chapter 51

Chapter 51

At 3:00 p.m. the following Tuesday afternoon, Carly began her weekly OB appointments. Bo made it to the hospital to accompany her just in time. He arrived at Carly's office door, a little breathless for having taken the stairs rather than waiting on the elevator, and gave her a resounding kiss.

"Hello to you, too, baby."

"Sorry I'm late, Princess."

"You aren't late. You're exactly," she paused and checked her watch. "Three minutes early."

"Let's get going, then, before Anne gives away your time slot."

"You still haven't experienced any cervical changes," Anne told them when she finished her examination of Carly. "But remember that with subsequent pregnancies your cervix can ripen and dilate quickly. Don't dither around too much when the contractions do start. We don't want this baby to be born in the car on the way to the hospital."

"How's her blood pressure, Anne?" Bo asked.

"It's great, which is surprising with the amount of stress you've been under lately." Anne looked hard at Carly for a moment, studying her friend's face closely. "How are you dealing with the stress?"

Bo and Carly locked eyes and soft smiles crept onto their faces. "My husband takes incredible care of me," said Carly, her voice a breathy whisper.

"Yeah, I may be your doctor, but I really didn't need to know that."

Carly rolled her eyes. "You asked, Snow. Besides, that wasn't exactly what I meant. Bo and I talk. When I start to panic, he talks me through it."

"Keep talking, then," Anne directed her comment to Bo, who nodded, though his gaze never really strayed from his wife.

"All right, you two, I'll see you next week."

Carly and Bo picked up Ciara from her after-school care program on their way home. The little girl begged for pizza, so Bo stopped in at their favorite pizza place, _Carpenetti's_ , to pick up several. Carly waited in the car with Ciara, who was quiet for a moment as she rummaged in her backpack. She retrieved a brightly colored piece of paper and thrust it at Carly.

"Mommy, Emma's birthday party is on Saturday. Can we go?"

Carly took the paper, which turned out to be a party invitation, from her daughter and scanned the information briefly. "I think we can do that, Munchkin."

Ciara clapped her hands in delight. "It's at _iJump_ , Mommy, isn't that cool?"

"The coolest," Carly agreed. She loved seeing Ciara so happy. "Do you have any idea what you'd like to give Emma for her birthday?"

Ciara pondered that question briefly as though the answer to it might unlock the secrets of the universe. "Can we just go to the store and look around?" she asked at last.

"Sure. We'll go tomorrow after school, okay?"

"Yay!" Ciara shouted just as Bo opened the back driver's side door to place several carry-out boxes in the floorboard.

"What's she so excited about?"

Carly started to explain, but Ciara beat her to the punch, telling Bo all about Emma's upcoming birthday party, all the fun things to play on at iJump and ending with a prospective list of birthday gifts.

Her chatter lasted the drive home, much to her parents' amusement. Carly took half the boxes from Carpenetti's into the house, Bo telling her he'd get the mail and bring the rest of the food. Mail in one hand and pizzas in the other, Bo headed into the house. He took just a moment to sift through the bundle of mail, half-way listening to his family talking. When he came to the ivory envelope, he wished suddenly that the mail had been delayed.

Or better yet, that it had been rerouted to the nearest black hole.

It didn't take long for the others – Nick, Carys, Melanie, Chelsea, Shawn, Belle, Carly and the girls, his mind noted – to pick up on the unsettling vibrations he was emitting.

"Babe, what's up?" Carly asked, although she was fairly sure she didn't want to know.

"You've got a letter." Bo held up the envelope.

There was no doubt that this envelope was the same kind as the one that had arrived with the flowers. Carly took it from Bo and sat down at the small kitchen table. Steeling her nerves, she ripped open the envelope and laid it aside to read the letter. As before it was one sheet, written in a hand she knew as well as her own.

 _Dearest Katerina,_

 _Have you missed me these last months? I have certainly felt the pain of our separation. The nights are so lonely without you. How I long to have you in my bed once more, tied hand and foot – you remember how it pleases me, darling, to see you so…humbled. Of course, you must be punished first._

 _I'm certain the last marks I gave you have by now faded from your skin, my love, but do not worry. I will take great care in bestowing new ones upon your flesh. I expect that you will protest; your screams are a symphony. Once I have rebuked your appalling behavior towards me, then and only then, will I reacquaint myself with your body. It will take some time, you understand, until my thirst for you has been satisfied. Perhaps I will allow you to rest at some point; perhaps not._

 _There is also the matter of the abomination you carry within your womb, sweetheart. Tell me, Katerina, shall I allow you to hold the little brat before I snuff the life out of it? Or should I cast it out like the refuse it is, without allowing you to gaze upon it?_

 _Think it over, love, as you feel the child kick within you. What is the best way to remove this latest blight upon my honor? Until we meet again, my sweet Katerina…_

 _Your Devoted Husband,_

 _Lawrence_

Silent as the proverbial grave, Carly handed the paper over to Bo. She stood to her feet and walked quickly to the half-bath off the main hallway, where she was neatly sick. Rising unsteadily to her feet, she ran a washcloth in cold water and blotted her face with it.

Upon entering the kitchen again, Carly found her family much as she'd left them. Bo, white-faced, was folding the letter again and placing it in the envelope. Naturally he'd read it, but he'd understood that she wasn't quite ready for anyone else to know what it said. He opened his arms to her, and Carly went, shaking.

Ciara knew something was dreadfully wrong and went to her parents. She tugged on Carly's hand. "It's the bad man again, isn't it, Mommy?"

Carly stroked the softness of Ciara's cheek and tried not let her voice tremble. "Yes, honey, but we have to be very brave, alright?"

Solemnly nodding, her dark pony tail bobbing, Ciara answered, "Daddy will make it all better, Mommy, you'll see."

"That's right, Little One." The promise tumbled forth from Bo's lips with no hesitation. He would make this better, no matter the cost. Carly pulled away from him and took Ciara's hand.

"Come on, baby girl, I'm hungry." To her own ears, Carly's voice sounded too bright, too shiny; fake. But it put Ciara's mind at ease, and that was all Carly cared about.

"Pizza!" Ciara exclaimed and the others forced themselves to adopt the little girl's light-hearted manner.

While his family partook of their evening meal, Bo slipped off to compare tonight's letter with the first. He studied them side by side. He'd have to get Rafe's forgery buddy to look for sure, but even Bo could tell that both letters had been written by the same person. The author certainly wasn't holding anything back, either.

His stomach roiled as Bo read again the terrible things that had been said to Carly. The second letter was especially disturbing, alluding to some of the more horrific moments of Carly's abuse at the hands of Lawrence. Not to mention the gruesome threats against the baby.

Even after Carly had shared what Lawrence had done to her, the rapes, the beatings, emotional abuse; even when Bo had read the man's own words about the atrocities he had committed against Carly, Bo had not truly understand until tonight how cruel, how brutal Lawrence Alamain had become.

Carly had told him that when Lawrence had contracted that disease, that he had gone insane. But Bo thought now that Lawrence was already unhinged, long before he fell sick. This kind of hatred didn't manifest itself overnight; this kind of evil had festered. It took up residence in the heart, a parasite fed and nurtured by its host, until it took control.

Evil, such as the type that had produced both of these letters, could not be changed. It had to be stopped. And Bo vowed, then and there, that he would stop it. He would go to any lengths, do anything to keep his family safe from Lawrence Alamain.

Carly was right. Somehow, Lawrence had not died that night when she had stabbed him. He'd survived, faked his own death and was now waiting to take his revenge. It had to be Lawrence, Bo reasoned, for who but a madman could pen down such viciously vile imaginings?


	52. Chapter 52

Chapter 52

Carly closed the door to her office and lowered herself into her chair. She'd taken to keeping a stool under her desk in order to prop up her feet, and she did so, now. Her morning had begun on one of Anne's examination tables. Anne had given her the grim news that absolutely nothing had changed with Carly's cervix, but she did think that the baby had dropped a bit.

Carly wasn't so certain about the dropping part as it still felt like the baby's feet were sticking into her esophagus. Heartburn was a constant companion, and ice, cold milk and vanilla ice cream were the only sources of relief. Caroline swore that meant the baby would have a head full of hair, but if there was any truth to the old wives' tail, Carly would have gladly given birth to a bald-headed baby.

She'd gone straight from Anne's office to the OR where she'd assisted Daniel in a tricky, quadruple by-pass that had taken far longer than either of them had hoped. They'd been successful in the end, though, and had at least given the woman a fighting chance. It would be up to the patient to kick her four-pack-a-day habit and trade her French fries for brussel sprouts.

Heaving a sigh, Carly reached for the woman's file. She reviewed the contents and made some last-minute notes as to expectations of recovery. She also included instructions for the hospital nutritionist to contact the patient before discharge. Signing her name to the chart, she dated it.

Tuesday, October 26th.

Exactly two weeks prior to her due date, and the last day she was scheduled to work. Though her original goal had been to work up until her labor started, she'd changed her mind over the past few days. Or, rather, her mind had been changed for her.

Bo had begged, pleaded really, for her to go ahead and start her maternity leave. He'd brought most of the others over to his way of thinking.

Carys - I _t would be nice for you to have a few days off your feet before the baby comes._

Nicky - _You and Bo can spend some extra time together_.

Caroline - _You should rest all you can, while you can._

Melanie - _We can do some last-minute shopping._

Chelsea - _You can help me convince my grandmother that I don't need a "society" wedding._

She'd not been the least bit surprised when Bo had come home Monday evening touting that he'd started his paternity leave. He was taking a full twelve weeks off, effective immediately. Carly had realized this meant that Bo would be spending nearly every waking minute with her. She had zero problems with this arrangement.

Not that she'd admit it to anyone else because giving voice to her true feelings would sever the thin veil of control she'd managed to construct over the last few weeks. Outwardly, she had done her damndest to maintain a stoic and brave front. Inwardly, she wrestled with an entirely different truth.

She was fucking terrified.

At any moment she expected Lawrence to creep up behind her. Despite the ever-present body guard by her side, Carly felt vulnerable. Quinn, the man who had accompanied her every outing since Lawrence first made his presence known, was solid and capable. He had come from Victor's pool of hired muscle, and was one-half of the team that Carly had met in the park shortly after her wedding to Bo. She couldn't help chuckling a bit over how she'd flattened his partner that day.

But even Quinn's size and the loaded .44 he carried would not protect her from the reality of this situation.

Lawrence was coming for her.

She knew it.

Bo knew it.

They just didn't know when he would strike.

Saturday she and Bo had taken Ciara to her little friend, Emma's, birthday party. When they'd come home, it was to find the rest of their family gathered in the living room, staring at a single envelope on the coffee table. The Saturday mail had come, and with it, a fresh reminder of the monster tracking her. This one had contained only one word…

 _Soon_.

That was what scared her the most; she was living on borrowed time. She only felt safe in certain settings. The operating room was her domain and when she performed surgery, she was in control. That was why she'd been so insistent about returning to work. In her home, with her children, who had been denied to her for so long, she was content. But only in Bo's arms, in the seclusion of their bedroom, did she feel completely and utterly safe.

So women's liberation and girl power would have to stand aside for the moment; Carly was going home to hunker down and allow her husband to fawn, pet and dote on her as he saw fit. She wondered if Bo would think her completely batty if she had one of those panic rooms installed in the house.

They could just all live in it forever. _Maybe the entire house could be turned into a panic room_? Well, it was a longshot, but she wasn't going to dismiss the possibility. She'd research it a little when she got home.

"Speaking of which," she mumbled. "I should probably head that way." Bo had already sent a couple of texts inquiring as to when she was coming home. The lengthy surgery had delayed her long enough.

Carly stood and took off her doctor's coat and hung it neatly in her office's tiny closet. She wouldn't need it for quite some time. Gathering a few patient files off her desk, she shouldered her purse and slid her phone into her pants pocket. Quinn was waiting for her outside her office and smiled, reaching for the burden she held.

"Let me take those for you, Dr. Brady." Quinn carried the files over to the nurses' station where he gave them to Maxine. Maxine, normally chatty, was on the phone with the lab and merely smiled and waved in Carly's direction.

Carly and Quinn took the elevator to the parking garage.

"Shall I fetch the car for you?" Quinn asked thoughtfully, but Carly shook her head.

"I don't mind walking."

Carly's designated spot was at the end of a row, near the east stairwell, but at the opposite end of the elevators. Carly noted that though it was nearing three o'clock and therefore a shift change, the car park was silent.

 _Silent as the grave_. The figure of speech flitted across her mind, leaving curling tendrils of anxiety in its wake. The silence was broken only by their footfalls as she and Quinn strode towards the car.

They reached the car, and as always, Quinn opened the door for her and helped her into the passenger seat. As he stepped around to the driver's side, Carly began to feel like something was wrong. She scanned the parking garage, but could see nothing out of place. Still, her senses were piqued and she couldn't shake the notion that badness was coming. Quinn had reached the driver's side and he paused momentarily, fiddling with something she couldn't see.

Quinn opened the driver's door and she shrieked at the noise. He gave her an apologetic smile before sliding behind the wheel. "You're as jumpy as a cat," he observed while putting the key in the ignition.

Carly gave a weak shrug. "Does anything seem…strange to you?"

Quinn looked all around several times, in several different directions, before turning back to meet Carly's eyes. "It's a bit quiet in here, I suppose, but perhaps we're just in between the crowds."

"I guess so." Carly settled back in her seat and reached around to put on her seatbelt. Quinn waited patiently as she fussed with the lap belt until it lay across her thighs, just under the bulge of her belly.

"I'm very ready to get home, Quinn," she said with a smile.

"I'm sure you are," he said. He reached into his pocket and extracted a white handkerchief. "It's a shame you'll never get there." Then his big hand clapped the handkerchief to her face.

The startled synapses of her brain cells barely had time to register the scent of chloroform before she succumbed to oblivion.


	53. Chapter 53

Chapter 53

Bo watched intently as Carly and Quinn walked towards her car. Thanks to the angle of the garage cameras, Bo was not able to track their movements any further than the start of their path across the garage. But only a few moments later another camera picked up the car pulling onto the circular ramp which would lead it out of the garage and onto the street. Two people were clearly in the car when it exited the garage, and Bo could make out enough of the grainy images to know that the driver was Quinn and the passenger was Carly. The car turned right and disappeared from sight.

"Would you like to see it again, sir?" Neil Compton, the hospital's Chief of Security, was prepared to run the tape once more, but Bo shook his head.

Bo turned his back on Neil and the rooms' other two occupants, Roman and John. There was a gray, metal filing cabinet directly across from him. Bo punched it. Having thrown all his weight behind the swing, his fist made a slight dent, but the cabinet didn't break. So he grabbed hold of it and hurled it as far as he could.

Bo looked around for something else to assault, but his rage quickly became despair and he collapsed into a chair. Roman and John exchanged pointed looks before Roman went to Bo.

"Little brother, you've got to keep your head on. You're no damn good to Carly if you spend your time tearing up stuff instead of looking for her."

John joined the men that he considered his brothers. "Roman's right, man, you gotta keep your shit together. Carly's gonna be mighty pissed if you're black and blue when you find her." He pointed to the bruises already forming on Bo's right hand.

"She's gone," Bo said sadly. "I couldn't keep her safe and now that bastard has her again! Do you know what he did to her, before?"

"Yeah, we do," Roman said. "Which is why we're gonna find her before he can hurt her again. You're gonna find your wife and your unborn daughter and save them, Little brother. Do you hear me?"

"How, Roman? How am I going to find Carly?" Bo was growing angry again, which may not be the best thing, but Angry Bo seemed to be an improvement over Despondant Bo. Bo leapt to his feet and began pacing, ticking off the strikes against them.

"The GPS on her car was disabled shortly after she left the hospital. The FBI is no closer to learning where those damned letters are coming from. The ISA has rounded up all of Alamain's guards, and every one of them claims to know nothing about the fucker faking his death!

"We're chasing our own goddamned tails, and the both of you know it. Alamain's been two steps ahead of us the whole game. So would one of you please tell me how I'm supposed to find my wife?"

Nick burst in then, cutting off any response from either Roman or John. "The state police found Mom's car."

Twenty minutes later, Bo, Roman, John and Nick arrived at a patch of woods off Highway 22, on the outskirts of Brookwood. The trooper in charge was Lt. Akilah Sawyer, and she wasted no time filling Bo in on what she and her team had learned.

"The car is just over there." She pointed to a thicket maybe thrity yards away from where they stood. "A couple of hunters spotted it and called it in. If not for their tip, there's no telling when we would have found it."

Bo could see what she meant; while the road was a main thoroughfare between Salem and Brookwood, the car had been placed far enough in the woods so as not to be visible from the road. "Did you find anything in the car?"

"Your wife's purse was in the passenger seat."

"Let me see it," Bo demanded, but Akilah shook her head.

"We've already turned it over to the FBI," she told him and gestured behind her where Bo saw Rafe Hernandez talking with a couple of other guys in FBI vests.

"What about her cell phone?"

"We haven't located a phone yet. Look, this is what we know. There's no sign of damage to the car, nothing indicative of a wreck or even any kind of struggle. We're dusting for prints now. When we know more, you'll be the first to know, you have my word."

Bo eyed the woman carefully, taking her measure. He liked what he saw and knew in his gut that he could trust her. The sky was darkening as night drew closer. Carly had been missing for nearly four hours.

"It'll be dark soon," Bo commented.

Akilah nodded. "We're waiting on a wrecker to tow your wife's car to a garage used by the FBI. My officers will continue to search the parameter around the car as long as the light holds."

Rafe approached them, then, to speak with Bo. "There's nothing more you can do here, man. You should go home, be with your family."

Bo vehemently shook his head. "I can't go home, Rafe, not without Carly."

"It's just for a while. What about Ciara?" Rafe asked.

"She's got my mother and her sisters. They're with her."

Roman picked up on Rafe's angle and joined in the effort. "Little girl probably needs to see her daddy, I'd imagine. Kid's probably scared without her mama, Bo. You oughta go see her, just for a little bit."

 _They're right_ , Bo thought. _Ciara's gonna need me. I haven't even seen her this afternoon. She had to hear about Carly from Ma_. He wanted, needed, to be in the middle of the case, though. If a break came, he might be the only one who could figure it out. He knew he was the only who could bring Carly home. _What do I do, Princess?_

It was Nick who provided the answer to the question Bo had not voiced. "Bo, Mom would want you to take care of Ciara. I think – I know – that she'd rather you were watching out for Ciara. That's what she'd want."

Bo cast a final look around at the site and allowed the others to take him home.

Carly's head was hurting.

Since pain meant she was still alive, she wasn't too concerned with the jackhammering in her frontal lobe. The question of how long she would remain alive was somewhat up in the air at the moment. She was lying down, but not on a bed. It wasn't the floor, either; the surface under her was padded, but not overly so - a couch, maybe?

She was curled on her left side, her right arm over her belly. She gave a slight push and was elated when the baby reacted immediately. _Sit tight, Baby Girl, I'm going to get us out of this – somehow._

Tuning her senses inward, Carly catalogued her physical state. Born out of the years of Lawrence's abuse, this process had saved her from further injury on many occasions when she'd awakened, bruised and broken externally and bleeding internally.

The first time Lawrence had beaten her unconscious, she'd awakened with two broken ribs, a bruised liver and a dislocated shoulder. One of the broken ribs had been shattered, the jagged edge resting uncomfortably close to her left lung. Flight instinct in high gear, Carly had rolled to her side, successfully puncturing her lung. Lawrence had watched her struggle for a few life-threatening moments before summoning his private physician.

Since that experience, Carly had taken to giving herself what she'd come to think of as a mental MRI after each bout of torment at Lawrence's hands. She began with her brain and worked her way down and out, over her organs, through her bloodstream, outward to her limbs, until she reached the tips of her toes. These little check-ups were second nature to her now, and she often conducted them in the mornings before fully waking.

Satisfied that there were no internal injuries and also that the baby seemed unharmed, she tried opening her eyes. This proved to be a mistake on her part as the light that greeted her left her momentarily blind.

"Oh, shit!" she exclaimed and covered her eyes with her hands. "That fucking hurt!"

"You're awake."

Carly recognized the voice immediately as that of her turn-coat body guard.

Though it caused her already-throbbing head to pulse even more painfully, Carly turned her head in the direction of the voice and lowered her hands from her face. She was ready for the light so it didn't come as such a shock as it had the first go-round. What had felt like a solar flare turned out to be the soft glow of a rather conservative-looking reading lamp. It was the room's only source of light.

"Quinn. Would you mind telling me why the hell you tried to kill me?"

Quinn shrugged matter-of-factly. "If I'd wanted to kill you, then you would be dead. My job was only to bring you here."

"Here" was the sparsely furnished room of someone's house. It was an older house, Carly could tell that much from the faded magnolia print wallpaper. Cobwebs and dust bunnies made her suspect that she and Quinn were the room's first human occupants in quite a while. There were two windows on one wall and both were covered with old-fashioned shades, yellowed with age.

Quinn's large frame was folded in an arm chair that had definitely seen better days. Looking down, Carly discovered she was on a divan. She was still clothed, and beyond the headache from the chloroform, she didn't seem to have suffered physically. She exhaled slowly in relief.

As though he could read her mind, Quinn spoke again. "I don't hold with rape, Dr. Manning."

Carly snorted. "But apparently kidnapping rests peacefully on your conscience."

Another shrug. "I was hired to provide a service."

"You were supposed to protect me, you bastard!"

Quinn shook his head. "That was never my job. My job was to watch you and to take you when the moment was right. That's what I've done."

"You're a hitman."

"I'm an entrepreneur."

"My husband will find you."

"No," Quinn spoke slowly as if explaining something to a child. "He won't, Dr. Brady. By the time your body is located, I will be long gone."

Carly swayed, dizzied by the wave of fear washing over her. "So you are going to kill me." The strength of her voice surprised her.

"I'm not. My employer wishes to personally take care of that task."

"Ah, your employer," said Carly. The dizziness was threatening to overtake her. She broke out in a cold sweat and a painful cramp seized her belly. _Oh, no, you are absolutely NOT going into labor, Manning! This is neither the time nor the place_.

Her daughter seemed to agree with her and gave a powerful kick. Or maybe she was disagreeing with her since before Carly could even take a deep breath, another contraction sent her reeling. Trying to distract herself, Carly asked, "And how long have you been in Lawrence's employ?"

"What do you mean?"

"Have you been following me since I left Alamania, or did Lawrence just look you up in the Yellow Pages under 'mercenary'?"

"For a woman who's about to die, you're awfully chatty," Quinn remarked but he didn't answer her question.

"It isn't like I've got anything better to do with my time."

Quinn surprised her by laughing heartily. "I almost feel bad about all this. I like you, you're…plucky."

"Gee, thanks. Your admiration just makes me feel all kinds of better." Carly barely refrained from sticking out her tongue at the mountain of a man across the room who only laughed some more.

Carly shifted around in an effort to get more comfortable and felt something jabbing her in the leg. Her cell phone was still in her pants pocket! If the phone was in her pocket, then it was still on. Quinn must not have bothered to check her pockets; otherwise he would have found and certainly discarded her phone. This was the break she needed.

The shades on the windows were drawn, but Carly could tell that night had fallen. The chloroform couldn't have knocked her out for more than a few hours. Bo would know by now that she was missing. If she could only manage to turn on her phone's GPS mode, then Bo would be able to find her.

Quinn had stopped laughing and was now checking his watch. Carly heard the faint sound of a car engine. Quinn must have heard it, too, as he quickly left the room, shutting the door behind him.

A knock sounded at what must be the front door and Carly knew she had mere seconds to do something, anything, to contact Bo. Her phone showed a full signal, and she activated the GPS. Listening intently she could hear low murmurs coming from the other room. She wanted to send Bo a text, but what to say?

She had no idea where she was.

She could tell him she was alive, that she loved him, but neither of those things would help him find her. The murmuring stopped; then Carly heard footfalls heading towards her. With trembling fingers, she managed to type what she hoped would result in her rescue and hit send. She didn't dare keep the phone on her person. Quinn might have not physically searched her, but Lawrence would have no such qualms.

She placed the phone on the floor and slid it under the divan; then she stood, though the action sent her reeling. She would meet Lawrence on her feet. The door knob turned, and Carly's heart pounded so furiously in her chest that she wondered briefly if she'd go into cardiac arrest and save Lawrence the trouble of killing her.

But when the door opened fully, it was not Lawrence who appeared in the doorway – it was Hope.


	54. Chapter 54

Chapter 54

It had been the right thing to come home. Ciara had rushed into his arms, weeping for her mother, shaking Bo to his very core. No matter what, he had to take care of Ciara. He knew that's what Carly would want him to do.

"I miss Mommy."

Bo clutched Ciara tightly to his chest. "I miss her, too, Little One."

Ciara buried her face in his neck, her tiny body wracking with the sobs that she produced, and Bo was helpless to comfort her. He settled for rocking back and forth with her, patting her back and whispering that he loved her, all the while wishing for Carly.

It had taken over an hour for Ciara to cry out her feelings, and it was now full dark. Bo listened to the others in the house, moving quietly around Ciara and him. All of his family was there – Shawn, Belle and Claire; Chelsea and Jack, who'd flown in from New York; Nick and Carys; Phillip and Melanie. Even his mother and Victor had planted themselves in his and Carly's house indefinitely.

John and Marlena were also there, and Roman, too. The only one missing was Carly. And she was the heart, of both their home and family.

Another wave of despair washed over his soul, but Bo dug down deep inside and held on.

 _I will find you, Princess. I swear I will! I won't let Lawrence hurt you, not this time. I swore I'd protect you, and I WILL find you. I will bring you home, safe and sound._

Ciara raised her head and placed her tiny hands on either side of Bo's face. Her fingers found tears that Bo wasn't aware of shedding. "I know you will."

Bo pulled in a shuttering breath. "What, sweetheart?"

"I know you'll find Mommy and you'll bring her home to us. I heard you, you were whispering to her. I think she can hear you, too, Daddy."

"I hope she can, Little One."

Chelsea watched the interaction between her dad and her baby sister, fighting back her own tears. Her grandmother had dispatched her to try and entice her dad to come and eat. Pasting a smile on her face, Chelsea bounded in the room, trying to convey a happy, peaceful attitude.

"Hey, Shortcake, Grandma's saving you a big piece of her Butterfinger Cake! What do you say? Should we go nab it before Shawn can eat it?"

Ciara looked between her father and her sister, clearly torn, but Bo nodded encouragingly. "I wouldn't mind some of Grandma's cake. Will you share yours with me?"

Ciara's mouth turned up in the hint of a smile, and Bo stood to carry her downstairs. His phone, still clipped to his belt, vibrated suddenly and scared him half to death. He almost dropped Ciara.

"Daddy?" Her little brows furrowed in confusion as Bo fumbled, one-handed, to grab his phone and while shifting Ciara with his other arm.

"Dad, who is it?" Chelsea walked back to look over Bo's shoulder as he stared at his phone.

"It's a text message, from Carly."

"Oh, my God! What does it say?" Chelsea could scarcely believe it.

" 'Quinn's working for Lawrence.' That's all it says. But she just sent it, Chels, just now! The state troopers, they said they didn't find Carly's cell. They couldn't find it because she has it with her."

"Dad, if her phone is on, we might be able to track the signal."

"Does that mean we can find Mommy?" Ciara asked, tugging on Bo's arm.

Bo crushed Ciara to him and felt the faintest flicker of optimism ignite within him. "That's exactly what it means, Little One. Come on, we've got work to do!"

Bo took the stairs as fast as he could with Ciara in his arms. Chelsea was right on his heels. The rest of the family was in the living room, and Bo handed Ciara off to his mother. He grabbed Roman by the arm, and John, Nick, Phillip and Jack joined the two of them.

"Carly sent me a text, just now." Bo was nearly breathless in his excitement.

Nick grabbed the phone out of Bo's hand to see for himself. "Quinn? He took Mom? He's been working for my father this whole time?"

Bo nodded, not liking the murderous glint in Nick's eyes. "It looks that way, son."

"He's a dead man."

It was unclear as to whether Nick meant Quinn or Lawrence, but Jack, who knew Nick better than anyone, figured it was a safe bet that both of those men were about to meet their maker.

Bo clapped a hand on Nick's shoulder, forcing the younger man to make eye contact.

"That can all wait, Nick. The important thing is that we know your mom is alive right now, and she's given us a big clue as to where she is. Now, can any of that fancy equipment you brought in help us find out where your mom's phone is?"

Nick closed his eyes for a moment, tamping down his rage for his father and those who were aiding him. Then his green eyes reopened and met Bo's, full of steely determination. "Yes, it can tell us exactly where Mom's phone is."

Neither woman spoke.

They both stood stock-still, Carly in front of the divan and Hope against the doorframe.

Though a thousand thoughts raced through her mind, Carly was determined to make Hope go first. She knew Hope was impatient, and she planned on using that to her advantage. Hope was the only one, after all, who could tell her where Lawrence was. He was the real threat.

Finally Hope stepped fully into the room, allowing the door to close behind her slowly with an eerie creek. She leaned against the wood, hands in her pockets, and stared so intently that the action made Carly's skin crawl. Still, Carly held her tongue, and she could see the mounting frustration her silence caused in Hope.

"Surprised to see me?" Hope asked. She'd expected Carly to cower in fear or at the very least, begin crying.

Carly only shrugged.

"Aren't you going to ask me what I'm doing here?"

"Hadn't planned on it, no."

Hope's mouth turned in a nasty smirk, but Carly didn't budge. She'd perfected her poker face over the years, and it was firmly in place. Hope exhaled sharply, her eyes narrowing.

"Aren't you at least afraid?"

 _Bloody terrified, thank you very much, but I'll be damned if I let you see it!_

"Not of you, Hope. There's nothing you could possibly do to me that is worse than what Lawrence has already done."

"See, Carly, that's where you're wrong," Hope countered, pleased with the confusion gathering on her enemy's face. "Lawrence may have hated Melanie and loathed your betrayal of him, but at the end of the day he had some twisted need to keep you alive, to see you suffer."

Hope closed the distance between them in a few steps until she stood within a hair's breath from Carly. "I won't have that problem. I'm going to enjoy seeing you dead almost as much as I will, killing you."

"What…" Carly abruptly broke off her question as a contraction rippled through her womb. She hissed out a breath, nostrils flaring, and counted to forty-five before her belly loosened, and she could speak again.

"What in the hell are you talking about, Hope? Lawrence may have used you to get to me, but he won't stand by and let you kill me." _Not when he'd rather have that honor himself…_

Hope smiled then, but it was shadowed in madness. Clapping her hands in childish glee, she replied, "I'm afraid he'll have no choice in the matter, Carly. Dead men aren't able to exact revenge, now are they?"

Carly's green eyes glowed with sudden understanding, all the events of the past weeks falling neatly into place. "It was you."

Hope grinned smugly.

"You sent the letters, the flowers, all of it. Lawrence is really dead, and this has been nothing but a ruse on your part to make us think he was alive."

"You have to admit it was a brilliant plan." Hope gave herself a mental pat on the back, and Carly got the feeling that Hope was waiting for her to acknowledge this self-proclaimed brilliance.

"Uh, yeah, way to go," Carly muttered mentally chanting _don't upset the fruitcake, don't upset the fruitcake._ "You really had us all fooled."

Hope tossed her head regally, her hair swinging out behind her. "It was really quite simple. At first, I'll admit, I was just going to hire someone to kill you. That seemed the most direct route to getting what I wanted."

As she spoke, Hope began to pace, dishing out the details of her plan as though she and Carly were old friends catching up over lunch. "But then I realized that your sudden death would inevitably point to me, and that was a risk I was unwilling to take. I needed a villain, someone else to take the fall. Vivian was no longer an option, tucked away in Chesterwood, but Lawrence, well, he was another matter entirely. After all, the dead coming back to life is getting pretty commonplace in Salem, wouldn't you say?"

"Oh, yeah, it happens all too often for my taste," Carly quipped. Her verbal jab wasn't lost on Hope, whose expression darkened considerably.

"Anyway, I knew I needed a way to convince you that Lawrence was alive, so I decided to send the letters. I'd heard about the journals your son brought with him from Alamania, the ones that Lawrence kept. But how could I get my hands on one of them?"

Because Hope seemed to expect it of her and because, quite frankly, she wanted to know, Carly asked Hope how she had accomplished that task.

"It was no trouble at all. I've had a PI following you and Bo for ages, and your routines are boringly predictable. One morning when you were all gone, I broke in and stole one of the journals. Then it was only a matter of reading them and piecing together enough information to create credible letters. I hired the best forger I could find; the man wasn't cheap, but it was worth every penny, don't you think?" Hope gave Carly a conspiratorial wink.

Then another contraction sent her doubling over, and she braced her hands on her knees, doing her best to breathe through the pain. She wanted to cry out, but she bit down hard on her bottom lip to silence herself. She would not give Hope the satisfaction of hearing her scream.

"That's, what, two contractions in the past five minutes or so?" Hope inquired. "I wonder how long your baby will live in your womb once your heart stops beating?"

When the contraction ended, Carly stood straight once more and met Hope's cold, appraising gaze. The hate radiating outward from Hope was so strong it was almost a physical force. But Carly had withstood more formidable apponants, and the steel core that had seen her through the worst moments of her life hardened within her, lending her the strength she would need to survive this, too.

In that moment, Carly was certain of two things.

One, and the most important, she was definitely in the early stages of labor.

Two, Bo was on his way. She could feel his approach just as surely as she could feel her heart beating inside her chest.

She only had to stay alive until he got there. _Then you can be born, little girl_ , Carly assured her baby. _But you are NOT coming before Daddy gets here and the crazy lady is gone, all right? Just stay put until then._

Carly chose to interpret the kick from her daughter as a nod in the affirmative.

Hope noted the change that swept over Carly, and for the first time, she began to doubt the ease of this particular road down which she was traveling. She was still going to kill her, certainly, but it suddenly occurred to her that Carly might fight back. _Oh, well, I might have to use more than one bullet, then._

"You know that I'm going to kill you, right?" Hope asked.

"I know that you're going to try."

"You deserve to die, Carly, for what you did to me."

Just gotta keep her talking. "And what is it that I'm supposed to have done to you?"

Hope rolled her eyes. "Are you kidding me? Don't think you can play your little victim routine with me, Carly. You know exactly what you did. You stole my husband, my children, my life, you bitch, and now I'm going to steal yours."

Fast as lightning, Hope drew a .45 out from under her shirt and leveled it at Carly. "You're done taking things from me, Carly."


	55. Chapter 55

Chapter 55

Nick's "fancy" equipment lived up to its name and as far as Bo was concerned, was worth its weight in gold. With a few keystrokes on his laptop, Nick pulled up a local map with two tiny black circles, one steady and one pulsing. Nick pointed to the steady one.

"This is where we are." His finger moved barely a centimeter to the other dot. "And this is Mom's phone. It's still emitting a tracking signal so that means it's still on."

"That's great, son, but where is that?" Roman asked.

Nick's fingers flew over the keys. "I'm putting in the latitude and longitude coordinates to get a physical address."

Less than sixty seconds later, Bo was reading the address of a destination that was less than three miles from the home he shared with Carly. The knowledge that his wife was so close to him – yet so far away at the same time, with the dangerous whimsy of a madman separating them – made his heart stop.

A quick search of the county probate records revealed that the property, a house and two acres, had been on the market for nearly two years. It had been purchased eight weeks ago by Katerina Alamain.

"What the hell?" Bo muttered as he and the others stared at the PDF copy of a deed.

Nick only shook his head, turning from the image on his laptop. "This is my father's classic M.O; a first-class, grade-A mindfuck."

"But why all the subterfuge? I mean, Lawrence revealed himself in the first letter he sent to Carly," John pointed out. "Why purchase the property in Carly's name? Hell, why purchase it at all?"

Bo thought a moment before responding. "It's a message to me, pure and simple. The bastard is telling me that Carly – Katerina – is his. He purchased a place close to us to drive home that point. It's his way of invading Carly's privacy. He'd know that she feels safe with me, and holding her captive practically next door to our own goddamn house, well, he's trying to take away her sense of safety. Nick's right, this is the way Lawrence operates, especially when it comes to Carly."

John nodded thoughtfully, filing away Bo's analysis for later perusal. Something didn't sit right with him, but he couldn't quite weed through it at the moment.

Roman made a quick call to Rafe, informing the other man of their findings. Rafe asked to be put on speaker-phone so that he could talk to all of them. "I can get you five agents, plus me, and a couple of snipers," he told Bo. "It'll take me about thirty minutes to get everyone assembled. We'll rendezvous at your place in an hour's time."

Bo growled at the time constraint and Rafe heard it. "If you get the bright idea to run over there and confront Alamain alone, Bo, don't. Getting yourself killed won't help Carly at all."

Bo growled again, but Roman clapped him on the shoulder. "He won't go anywhere until you get here with your team. In the meantime, we'll get the Department's SWAT team over here and ready to go."

Rafe hung up, and Roman made a call to dispatch the SWAT team, telling them to bring extra vests for Bo, John and himself. "That was Dunne," Roman said at the end of his call, referring to the SWAT team's leader. "They'll be here in twenty minutes. You and I need to look over a map and figure out a way to get there without alerting Alamain to our presence."

Bo nodded and turned to Nick, wanting his step-son's help in checking out different maps online.

Nick was gone.

"Where's Nick?"

More than a dozen heads turned in different directions searching for Nick.

"He was just here," Bo pointed out. "Which way did he go?"

"I wasn't even looking," John said.

"Me, neither," said Phillip. "Dad and I were talking."

"He walked past me, but I thought he was headed into the kitchen," Melanie said, then slapped her forehead. "He's gone after Mom, I know it!"

"Goddamn it!" Bo shouted and tore off through the kitchen to the garage. Sure enough, Nick's black Beamer was gone. Carys stopped short beside him, hand at her throat.

"Nick believes he could've done more to protect his mother. He thinks he failed her by allowing his father to turn him against Carly. He won't allow himself to fail again," she finished with alarming alacrity.

Bo nodded, quickly coming to a decision. He couldn't let Nicholas face Lawrence alone; the boy would never survive that sort of confrontation, not with Carly between them. Feet moving before he processed the action, Bo went to his bedroom and opened the footlocker in his closet. He donned a Kevlar vest, loaded his service revolver and tucked an extra clip into his belt.

Roman was in the doorway, arms folded across his chest, watching, when Bo noticed him.

"You know I have to follow him, Roman. I can't wait."

Roman nodded and stepped aside, falling into step beside him. "Yep, and you know that John and I can't let you go alone, right?"

"No way," Bo ordered. His tone was non-negotiable. "Look, I'm not leaving my family unprotected when Larry is the one pulling the shots. I need you and John to wait here until back-up arrives. You're the only ones I can trust."

"Bo…" Roman tried again, but Bo waived him off, stopping in front of his mother and Ciara. The room fell silent as all eyes trained on Bo and his daughter. Bo brushed Ciara's hair back from her shoulders and tapped the end of her nose with his fingertip.

"I have to go out for a while, Little One. I'm going to get Mommy and bring her home, okay?"

Ciara nodded, sniffed, trying to act brave. "Are you going to bring Nick home, too?"

"You bet I will. I know that you're scared right now, sweetheart, but I need you to be brave for just a little while longer. Can you do that for me?"

Though her lower lip trembled and her eyes glistened, Ciara nodded swiftly. Then she leaned over and kissed her daddy's left cheek. "That's for you, Daddy." She moved to his right cheek to bestow another kiss. "And that's for Mommy."

Melanie, feeling very much like a child herself, cried at the exchange. Philip tucked her into his arms, whispering that everything would turn out all right, praying to a diety he'd never really believed in that it was the truth. He didn't even want to think how Melanie would react if something happened to her family.

Now Bo was the one trying to hold onto his courage, determined eyes sweeping over the faces gathered around him. He focused once more on Ciara. "We'll be home soon, baby, I promise."

Without a backward glance, he strode purposefully from the room.

Nick crouched in the bushes outside the house where he now knew his father was hiding. He'd spent a few moments there gauging his surroundings, taking in the sounds of the night, trying to ascertain any clues that might help him on his quest.

Lawrence Alamain had taught his only son, his heir, to hunt and to track the wild boars and other game that roamed their homeland. Nicholas had spent every summer and school holiday with his father and whatever expert Lawrence had acquired to teach Nick a particular skill. By the age of 15, he could spear a boar through the heart; he could shoot geese on the wing and fell a deer with an arrow.

He had also been schooled in fencing, small swords and martial arts.

Nick had no problem whatsoever using any and all of the training his father had given him against the man himself.

Nick slowly moved to his feet…and found himself flat on the ground, staring into his stepfather's face. Bo looked pointedly at him and lifted his hand from Nick's mouth.

"I couldn't wait," Nick whispered fiercly.

"I know, but if I let you get yourself killed, your mother will kick my ass."

"He won't kill me," Nick countered.

"You don't know that," Bo said reasonably. "We don't know what he's truly capable of, Nicholas. He might very well try and hurt you, if only to make your mom suffer. That's why you're gonna wait out here on Rafe and Roman and John and the others."

"Oh, hell, no!" Then he spotted what lay on the ground next to Bo and said, "And obviously you know that or else you'd not have brought an extra vest. So are you gonna let me wear it or what?"

Bo allowed Nick to get up then and handed him the vest. He was not surprised when Nick produced a wicked looking Smith & Wesson revolver. "I have a permit," he told Bo, as though that were the most important issue at hand.

"Back-up should be here in about fifteen minutes. It could get sketchy with the snipers that Rafe is bringing. I'm not sure how well they'll be able to see and depending on how many men your father has with him, things are probably going to get dicey. Promise me that if I tell you to do something, you will, even if it's getting your ass outta there."

"I'm not leaving without Mom," was all the young man would say.

"I suppose that'll have to do. Go slow, follow my lead, got it?" Not waitng on a response, Bo headed for the open portion of the yard. He made it to the porch without incident and signaled for Nick to follow.

Together again at the door, Bo opened it, forcing it against the wall quickly. He stepped into the room, Nick right behind him, checking the other side for attack. The kid had good instincts - Bo had to hand it to him. It was all for naught, though, as nothing and no one lurked in the outer room.

A single door lay directly in front of them, pale light spilling underneath it.

"You're done taking things from me, Carly!"

Bo and Nick turned to one another in disbelief. Bo would know that voice anywhere. _Hope_? Nick recognized her voice, too, and his eyebrows merged almost comically with his hairline.

Throwing off his initial surprise, Nick burst through the door, and several things happened at once. Carly screamed at the sight of her son just as Hope wheeled around to confront the intruder. When Bo appeared over Nick's shoulder, Hope's face went white with shock. Nicholas trained his gun on Hope, but before he could even issue a threat, Hope grabbed Carly around the neck and placed her own gun against Carly's temple.

Nick's finger itched to pull the trigger, and Hope knew it. "Don't even think about it. I don't care how good of a shot you think you are because from where I'm standing, I can't miss," she sneered. "Now put the gun down."

"Nick, do as she says," Bo cautioned.

"But, Bo…"

"Do it."

Nick relaxed his grip on the gun, lowering it to the floor, but never took his eyes off of Hope.

Carly, petrified, could barely breathe around Hope's arm locked across her throat, but she tried to take even, deep gulps of air in an effort to stay calm. _Or as calm as one can be when one's husband's lunatic ex-wife is holding a gun to one's head_ , she thought.

"You, too," Hope nodded towards Bo, who hesitated too long to suit her. "I mean it, Brady. Put down the damn gun or watch me decorate the walls with her brain matter."

"Hope, this isn't you," Bo said even as he, too, laid down his weapon. "Whatever Alamain is forcing you to do, you aren't a killer. I know you."

"You don't know anything about me, Bo. You don't even see me anymore."

"What the hell are you talking about, Hope? I see you just fine. I just don't believe what I'm seeing."

Hope cocked an eyebrow in an-all-too-familiar manner. "What's so hard to believe, Bo? Haven't you ever heard about a scorned woman's wrath?"

"Hope, please, think about what you're doing. Why would you want to help someone like Alamain? The man's a monster!"

Something passed over Hope's face, then, and Nicholas, as his mother had earlier, came to the swift conclusion that his father had nothing at all to do with any of this. "You aren't helping my father, are you, Hope?"

"Very good, Nicholas. Like mother, like son, eh? Your mom worked it out pretty fast, too."

"What?" Hope's presence had blindsided Bo, not to mention he was coiled as tightly as a spring waiting on Lawrence to make an appearance.

Nicholas spoke to Bo, but he continued to watch Hope like a hawk. "My father is dead, like we've thought all along. Hope is behind this. She's the one who's been sending the letters."

"It was you?" Bo asked, and Hope answered him with an enthusiastic bob of her head.

"But those letters, they were so…awful!" _How could Hope, the woman he'd loved for so long, created children with, shared a life with, how could that woman have concocted those heinous threats?_ He was horrified to think that Hope was capable of such evil, but the truth of the matter was staring him in the face.

"I had to convince all of you that the letters were from Lawrence," Hope replied with a shrug. "But I meant every single word, Bo. As I was explaining to Carly when you two dropped in, she has taken everything from me that I have ever held dear and I will take it back tenfold.

"From the minute she showed up, all you could see was Carly. I disappeared. It was all about her – her child, her abusive husband, her sad and pathetic life. You stopped caring about me and our children. You forgot about how I've suffered over Zach's death and Ciara's kidnapping and your infidelity with Billie. You were obsessed with Carly, and it made you abandon me. You moved your whore into my house, Bo; you fucked her in my goddamned bed! No one existed in your mind except for Carly. But don't you understand? If Carly's gone, then you'll be able to see me again. You'll come back to me and we'll be a family with Ciara. With Carly dead, her hold over you will be broken. You'll forget about her, and things will go back to normal."

"Hope!" Bo cried. "Nothing about this is normal! What's happened to you?"

"Carly Manning happened to me! All I have to do, Bo, is pull the trigger, and it all goes away. She'll be dead, and you'll be mine."

Bo stepped forward and Hope ground the business end of the gun hard into Carly's temple. Carly cried out, more from the pain of the contraction that suddenly erupted than anything else, but the sound forced Bo to stand still. Hands up, palms out, he looked deeply into Carly's eyes, trying to convey his plan to her. The second she got it, Bo started talking to Hope.

"Hope, please, I'm begging you." Tears spilled freely down his cheeks as he spoke. "Please, I'll do anything you ask, anything at all, if you'll just let Carly and Nicholas walk out of here."

"Right," Hope scoffed. "What, do you think I'm an idiot, Bo? I let her go and I'm as good as dead." She nodded in the direction of his gun lying dormant on the floor – close enough that Bo could reach it if he really wanted. And Hope knew that Bo's aim was dead-on.

Bo kicked out swiftly, sending his gun sliding across the room. "There. Hope, I do know you. Remember when we first met? I loved you the moment I saw you. I wanted you, would've done anything to get you. You were beautiful and sweet and funny, but most of all you were good. You had such a good and kind heart. That's the Hope I fell in love with and married. That's the woman who made me laugh, who made me want to be a better man, the woman who I mourned when I thought death had taken her from me. Hope, somewhere deep inside of you, under all of the shit and the grief and the hurt, I know that woman, my Fancy Face, still lives. Let me see her. Let Carly and Nick go, and show me that you're still who I know you are."

Nick was stunned. His mother had tears streaming down her face. So did Bo. He wanted desperately to know what was going on, what Bo was playing at, when he noticed the tiny red dot dancing on the wall above his mom and Hope. Then, he understood. His mother, even though she couldn't see what he and Bo could, understood, too.

Hope didn't have a clue. She only had eyes for Bo, and by some tiny shred of a miracle, the woman was listening. Her hold on his mom slackened just a tad, enough that Carly could breathe more freely.

"If Carly and her son leave, you'll stay with me?"

Bo nodded. "I swear to God, Hope, if you'll only let them go, I'll stay right with you. I won't go anywhere without you."

"You're done with her." It was an order, not a question, and Bo's head bobbed affirmatively, no hesitation. Nick knew his stepfather meant it, too; Bo Brady would do whatever was necessary to get Nick and his mother to safety.

"I'm going to start walking towards you, Hope," Bo took two baby steps to test Hope's temperament. "You let go of Carly, and she's going to walk real slowly towards Nick. Then the both of them will leave, all right?"

Hope nodded and let her arms drop so suddenly that Carly almost stumbled. The baby felt so low and heavy in her belly and walking wasn't the easiest thing. She began taking plodding, determined steps towards Nicholas, watching her son so that she wouldn't look at Bo. She just knew that if she locked eyes again with her husband, she'd crumble.

She passed Bo when another contraction hit, driving her to her knees. Searing, white-hot pain ripped across the very center of her being, and she screamed Bo's name before she could stop herself. Bo fell beside his wife, cradling her in his arms.

"Carly!"

She clawed at him, locked in the battle between her body and her baby, as he held her tightly and told her to _breathe, breathe, Princess_!

Nick watched his mother and stepfather, who had forgotten all about the woman behind them with a gun – a gun that was now pointed right at his mother's back. The intent of Hope's heart was painted on her face and Nick leapt forward with everything in him, diving between his mother and certain death.

When the bullet rent his flesh, he screamed, but his was drowned out by the one Hope emitted when two members of the Salem Police Department's SWAT team crashed through the windows and tackled her mercilessly to the floor.

The next thing he knew, Hope was being bodily removed from the house, still shrieking, and his mother was kneeling over him, fighting through her own physical anguish to see about him. Her hands shook like leaves in a windstorm so it was Bo who ripped the Kevlar vest from him. He'd taken the bullet to his left shoulder, and though it hurt like a bitch, Nick knew it was really just a scratch. Then he felt something wet against his arm and his eyes widened.

"Mom, Mom, I'm fine, really!" He batted away his mother's hands, trying to sit up.

"Nicky, you're bleeding!" Carly protested, even as the paramedics rushed in. "Let me help you!"

"Mom, listen! You're the one most in need of medical attention right now, not me." He looked at the medic team standing over them and issued no-nonsense orders for them to get his mother to the hospital.

"Why won't you let them take you first, Nicky?" Carly asked. "If this is out of some need you have to protect me, then you can just get over it because I'm your mother and I'm a doctor and…"

"And your water just broke, Mom," Nicholas interrupted. "To be honest, it's kind of gross."

Carly blinked stupidly at her eldest child, and that was all the time the paramedics needed to shift her onto a gurney. Bo bolted after Carly only to come to a skidding halt at the door. He looked back at Nick who assured his stepfather that he was fine. "Go take care of my mom and my kid sister."


	56. Chapter 56

Chapter 56

Bo knew something was wrong before they even got to the hospital.

Carly was having excruciating contractions, less than two minutes apart. She'd been able to tell the EMT's about the chloroform and waking up having the contractions, and of course, they already knew her water had broken. But she'd fallen silent shortly thereafter, emitting only groans and whimpers while the contractions rocked her.

Half-way to the hospital her blood pressure had spiked.

"She's at 155/129," one of them, Tess, barked into the radio. "Have Dr. Snow ready when we arrive."

Carly moaned, then, a pitiful, low sound that had Bo leaning over her in a second despite Allen, the other medic, trying to push him back. Carly's eyes were closed, her beautiful face drawn with pain. "Princess, can you hear me?"

She gave no indication that she could, and finally Allen was able to move Bo out of the way. He sat in the corner of the ambulance as it sped towards the hospital and prayed harder than he'd ever done before.

Tess reached between Carly's thighs to check for dilation, something the female medic had been doing every couple of minutes since she had cut off Carly's pants after they'd loaded her into the ambulance. Tess had expected Carly to be dilated to five or possibly six centimeters. Her cervix wasn't even soft.

She pressed as gently as she could, knowing the probing couldn't be too comfortable to Carly, trying to feel the baby's head. "Uh oh," she muttered. "Allen, I need to speak with Dr. Snow right now."

Tess didn't wait and instead snatched the radio from Allen.

"I'm here, Tess."

"Dr. Snow, I think the baby may be presenting sideways. I tried feeling for the baby's head and I'm almost certain I'm touching the spinal cord."

"And she isn't dilating?"

"No, ma'am, I still can't detect any cervical changes."

Anne went quiet. When she'd examined Carly earlier that morning, she'd have sworn on a stack of Bibles that the baby had been head down. What on earth could've changed? The short answer was that it didn't matter. Carly wasn't going to deliver this baby on her own.

"Tess, is she bleeding at all?"

Tess swallowed hard. She didn't want to admit to what else she'd felt between Carly's legs especially with her husband about to lose it over in the corner. But it was important that Dr. Snow be aware of everything.

"Yes, ma'am, she is."

Bo's head jerked up to see Tess pull her hand away from Carly, the medic's fingers coated in his wife's bright, red blood. His prayer then became a simple plea – _please, God_ – over and over until they were in the ambulance bay.

Anne was there, waiting, along with a doctor Bo didn't recognize. Anne conversed briefly with Allen and Tess; then with a terse nod, Carly was wheeled away from him, and Anne and the other doctor were off and running behind the gurney.

Bo tried to follow, but a nurse was hanging on his arm, pulling him in another direction. "Let me go! Carly!" He screamed her name repeatedly, brokenly, until a couple of the ER security guards came running towards him and the nurse. He was quiet by the time the guards arrived and finally listened to what the nurse was trying to tell him.

"Sir, Dr. Snow is prepping your wife for a c-section. If you'll come with me, I'll take you to where you can get ready. But you'll only be allowed in if you remain calm. Do you understand?" The nurse, a diminutive little blonde whose sunny appearance was undermined by the iron grip she had around his upper arm, looked plaintively at him until Bo nodded.

"Right this way," she said and set off at a brisk pace towards a set of swinging doors, Bo right behind her.

"You're damn lucky," Daniel informed Nick as he looked over the young man's x-rays. "The bullet came out clean. You won't need surgery at all. There's no evidence of torn ligaments or muscle tissue. If you had to get shot, you couldn't have taken a cleaner hit."

Nick rolled his eyes. "Considering that psychopath was hell-bent on killing my mother, it's a damn miracle she didn't do more damage."

Daniel shook his head. "It's so hard to believe that Hope was behind everything. I mean, sure, I always thought she was a little on the selfish side and she pretty much had Bo whipped, but to plot someone's murder? God, I just can't wrap my head around it."

Nick had given Daniel a run-down of the evening's events, but it was like a plot to one of those movies on _Lifetime_ Chloe was forever after him to watch. Only this was real, and it was happening to people he cared about.

Nick gestured to his freshly bandaged shoulder. "If you'd seen the look in her eyes tonight, man, you could wrap your head around it just fine." Nick involuntarily shuddered as he recalled the look in Hope's eyes just before she fired at his mother – hollow, dead. It was the most frightening expression he'd ever seen on a person.

"But Hope is in jail, right?"

"Yes, she's being taken to the County Jail for holding, but that's all I know. Oh, and for the time being, Ciara doesn't know that Hope was involved. Roman told me that as soon as they realized Hope was behind everything, he was able to let Victor know and they decided it was best that Bo and my mom be the ones to tell Ciara."

"That was smart. That poor, little girl; Hope really fucked up any chance of ever reconciling with Ciara."

"No shit, when Ciara does learn the truth of what Hope did, I'm afraid she'll completely hate the woman. Right now, she's scared of her and she won't tell anyone why. I know how I feel about my father now that I can see him for what he truly was. It kills me to think Ciara will face the same situation."

Daniel wasn't exactly sure how to respond so he asked about Quinn. "Has he been captured?"

"Not yet." But he will be, Nick vowed silently. One way or the other. "Are we all done here? I'd really like to find out about Mom."

"Nicky!" Carys burst into the exam room, hitting Daniel with the door in the process, and all but tackled her fiancé.

"Oomph!" Nick managed to get his good arm around her, preventing them both from toppling over the table. Carys pulled back, her hands stroking his face, eyes swollen and red from her tears.

Nick had been ready to tease her for nearly adding further injury to his gun-shot wound, but when he caught a glimpse of her face, he hauled her back to his chest and let her cry some more. "Baby, it's okay. I'm fine. Everything's all right now."

"I was terrified," she confessed into his shirt. "When Roman told me you'd been shot, I thought the worst." Then remembering they had an audience, she turned somewhat awkwardly to Daniel. "I'm sorry for the, um, door."

"No harm done," Daniel told her with a smile, but Carys didn't see it as she was back to studying Nick.

"I just, I had to see for myself that you were all right."

"I am, Carrie, Daniel says I don't even need surgery."

"Mother of mercy, be praised," she whispered and crossed herself. "Nicky, your mum, she's in surgery right now. Bo's father scared the life out of some poor ER nurse who told us that your mum had to have an emergency c-section."

"What? Why?" Nick slid off the table and took Carys's hand, already moving towards the door.

"Something about the way the baby was positioned. The nurse didn't know any other details." The young couple turned to Daniel.

"Hey, don't panic just yet, guys. It sounds like the baby is breech. Caesarians are performed all the time to deliver breech babies. I'm sure everything is just fine."

"Fine, where would the surgery take place?"

"In the Women's and Children's Hospital," Daniel said. "Come on, I'll show you."

He opened the door to find a mass of people crowded around the triage area. Victor held Ciara and stood next to Caroline. Shawn, Belle and Claire were with Chelsea and Jack. Melanie was huddled in Phillip's arms. Roman, John and Marlena were discussing something, but at the sound of the opening door, all of them looked at Daniel. He raised his hands before they could bombard him with questions.

"I'll take you guys over to where you can wait on Carly and Bo, okay?"

Melanie walked over to him and he slid his arms around his daughter, pressing a kiss to her golden hair. "How are you holding up, sweetheart?"

"I'll be better once I know that Mom and the baby are all right."

"Come on, then, let's go check up on them."

Thirty minutes later – arguably the longest of Bo's life – he was seated at Carly's head, waiting on Anne to begin the surgery. Dr. Carlson, the doctor who'd been with Anne in the ER, turned out to be the anesthesiologist. He'd already given Carly a spinal block and was standing opposite Bo now, watching for any signs of complications.

There were other doctors present, too, from Pediatrics and the NICU, plus several of the charge nurses, Maxine among them. Bo was grateful for her solid presence in the room. She'd updated Bo about Nicholas and also told him that the rest of his family was corralled into two of the OR waiting rooms, and she'd promised to let them know as soon as the baby was safely delivered.

Carly was able to speak now that she was no longer feeling the onslaught of her contractions, but her face was ghostly white under the fluorescent lights and she worried her bottom lip between her teeth. Tears ran unchecked from her eyes as Bo held her hand and dropped kisses against her forehead.

"I'm here, Princess," he whispered.

"I'm so scared, Bo."

"Don't be. I'm here and I've got you."

"All right, Carly, do you feel this?" Anne asked from somewhere behind the blue, surgical curtain that blocked the sight of Carly's abdomen.

"No."

"Well, I'm pinching the all-mighty hell out of you with forceps so that's good." Anne's tone was light-hearted, but Bo thought he could detect an underlying current of nervousness in her voice. "I'm making the incision into the abdominal wall. I'm into the uterine muscle now so you may feel some tugging or pressure."

"I'm okay," Carly told her.

"Well, hello there, little baby!" Anne could see the baby's back pressed against the opening of Carly's womb. "You tried to give your mama a hard time by lying sideways, didn't you? Stubborn little thing, you can't be born if you don't point yourself the right way. All right, baby girl, let's get a look at you."

"Definitely girl parts, huh?" Carly asked. Anne chuckled, and Carly felt some of the sorrow lift away from her heart now that she was about to meet her baby.

Bo heard a kind of sucking sound; then the music of his newborn daughter's first cries split the room. Carly was crying even harder, though this time they were tears of relief. Cheers erupted in the room, and Anne, beaming, passed the baby off to a nurse who cut the umbilical cord and wiped her down quickly before stepping around the curtain to present her to Bo and Carly.

"Just a quick look, Mommy and Daddy," the nurse told them and lowered the baby close to Carly's face.

"Hello, sweet girl," Carly whispered before brushing her lips across the kohl black curls on the baby's head. The nurse pulled her away with assurances that Carly would be holding her in no time.

Their daughter continued to scream bloody murder at the indignities of birth and Carly laughed through her tears. "She's beautiful, isn't she?"

"Like her mama," Bo answered. "God, I love you!"

"I love you, too."

They shared a brief yet tender kiss before Anne began talking. "Carly, I'm going to deliver the placenta now. Then we'll piece you back together and get you properly introduced to your daughter."

Anne reached back into Carly's womb for the after-birth and stopped short, her mouth gaping open in shock. "Oh my God."

Angela, the nurse at Anne's shoulder, leaned in closer. "Dr. Snow, is everything…dear Jesus!" Angela was much louder than Anne and her outburst drew the attention of every one of the OR's occupants.

Bo jumped to his feet, peering over the curtain. Anne's hands were buried inside Carly's belly, but that was all he could see. "What's the matter? Anne, tell me! Is Carly okay?"

Anne didn't respond, but her busy hands soon emerged holding a mass of tissue that Bo knew from experience was the placenta. Quick as lightning, Anne reached back inside Carly and tugged, her face frozen in concentration.

"Bo, Bo, what's going on?" Carly asked voice pitched with growing alarm.

"Damn it, Anne, what's wrong?"

Then Anne's hands were free of Carly's abdomen, but they weren't empty. A squirming bundle of flesh writhed in her arms as the entire population of the operating room looked on in wonder. A radiant smile stretched across Anne's face as she turned the wriggling object towards Bo.

"Nothing's wrong unless you mind terribly having a new son to go along with your new daughter."

"What?" Carly exclaimed and tried to lift her upper body off the operating table in spite of the fact that she was temporarily paralyzed from the chest down. Maxine stepped behind her and pushed her back to the table. "Dr. Brady, don't try to move!" she chided. "He's a fine, strong boy, I can tell by looking at him."

Their little surprise chose that moment to voice his opinion on the matter, emitting a lusty wail that had Anne cackling with delight. Bo's gaze flitted from his son to his wife several times before settling on Carly. "It's a…we have a..."

That was as far as he got before crumpling to the floor and hitting his head on the way down, so that when he came to a few moments later, he was getting the gash in his forehead stitched up alongside Carly.

"Hey, sailor." Carly wore the most gorgeous smile and Bo found himself returning it.

"Hey, Princess."

"I'm glad you decided to come back to the party," she teased.

"We have a daughter."

"That, we do."

"And we have a son."

"Noticed that, did you?"

"We have twins." At her nod, his eyes started to roll over white again, and Carly grabbed his hand.

"Oh, no you don't, buddy! No more fainting. I'm going to need you with me every step of the way."

"There's no place I'd rather be, Princess." Bo squeezed her hand just as Anne announced she was finished with Carly's staples. In a flurry of movement, Carly's rapidly-shrinking abdomen disappeared under her gown and two pre-warmed blankets were placed over her.

"Now, would you like to hold your babies?"

Carly nodded and Maxine elevated her head just enough so that Carly could stretch open her arms to receive her children, first her daughter, then her son. Bo, wobbly, but upright, slipped one arm behind Carly to help her hold their babies.

"They're so amazing," he gushed. Heads full of dark curls, the both of them, and though he suspected their boy's eyes would turn hazel at some point, he was pleased that their little girl was green-eyed like Carly.

"Anne, how on earth did we not know about him?" Carly asked she softly kissed her son's plump cheek.

Anne shrugged. "I don't have a clue, Carly. This is only the second set of surprise twins I've ever delivered. It's unusual not to learn of the second baby at some point within the pregnancy, but it's not unheard of. And God knows that if something strange is going to happen, it'll happen to you. From the way they were positioned I think he must have been hiding out at the top of your uterus for most of the pregnancy. He was trying to turn, I think, which probably pushed his sister into a transverse lie. I know I felt a head when I examined you earlier today."

"My God, was it really only this morning that I was in your office?"

"Just about twelve hours ago, as a matter of fact, and now, here we are, looking at your adorable babies."

"How big are they?" Bo queried.

Angela answered. "Baby Girl Brady, born at 9:23 p.m., weighing 6 pounds and 1 ounce, measuring 18 inches long and Baby Boy Brady born at 9:27 p.m., weighing 8 pounds and 7 ounces, measuring 21 inches long."

"Good grief!" Carly exclaimed. "Are you sure he's really that big?" She couldn't help but ask even though it was clear from side-by-side observation their son almost dwarfed his sister.

"I'm positive, Dr. Brady. You've got a linebacker, there, for sure."

"And they're both…all right?" Bo asked almost as if he didn't want to hear the answer.

"They're the picture of health," Theresa Hale, the pediatrician said. "I'll be by in the morning to check on them, but they're healthy as little horses."

Bo and Carly nodded simultaneously, their eyes fixated on their children. For their part, the twins stared back until their daughter's mouth twisted in a yawn entirely too big for her tiny face and their son whimpered once before letting loose a full-blown howl as he began rooting around, searching for sustenance.

Angela and another nurse, Jenny who had cared for Carly after Vivian's attack, stepped up and slid the bedrails up on Carly's tiny gurney. "I think someone is ready for his first feeding," Jenny remarked. "Let's get you to your room so you can take care of that little man."

"Sounds good," Carly said softly.

"Should I take one of them?" Bo wondered, but Angela shook her head. "They're going to ride with Mommy back to the room. Dr. Brady, do you need some extra pillows to help you support them?"

"I'm fine, Angela, just fine."

"All right, then. We're going to stop briefly in the hall so that your family can lay eyes on you, but then I'm running them off while we get you settled in."

Maxine led the way and Bo walked next to Carly, his hand on the bedrail. They rounded the corner and bedlam ensued. Melanie spotted them first, squealed, and that was all it took. Sixteen people, from Victor to Ciara, converged on them at once. Silence descended swiftly as they all realized that Carly was cradling more than one bundle in her arms.

"There are two babies," Melanie observed. "Why are there two babies?"

"We got a little surprise in the OR," Bo answered and Carly snorted.

"Well, I'm not sure if eight pounds qualifies as 'little.'"

"Twins, I can hardly believe it!" Caroline shrieked.

"Neither can I, Ma." Bo touched his stitches with a sheepish grin. "But the evidence is kind of hard to deny."

Then they were all talking at once, until Ciara wiggled her way out of Victor's arms in an effort to get to her parents.

"Mommy?"

Carly felt tears well up again as she looked at her little girl. "Hi, Munchkin."

"Mommy, I…" Ciara's chin began quivering and Bo scooped her up in his arms.

"Little One, it's all right. Didn't I promise you I'd get Mommy and Nick home safe?"

Ciara nodded, but she was reaching out for Carly. "I want you, Mommy, please!"

"Oh, sweetheart, it's all right. I'm right here, I promise." Carly very much wanted to comfort Ciara, but she couldn't figure out to make any more room on the gurney.

Maxine, God bless her, solved the problem right away. "Ciara, why don't you come with me to your mommy's room and help get her and your new brother and sister settled in. The rest of your family can wait out here."

Ciara agreed and tucked her face in Bo's neck. She was asleep by the time they reached Carly's room. He laid her down on the love seat and Jenny covered her with a blanket. Then she took the babies one by one to their bassinets to check them over while Angela and Maxine shifted Carly to her hospital bed from the operating gurney.

"Are you getting back any feeling in your legs, Dr. Brady?" Maxine asked.

"Hmm, some tingling, that's all."

"That's good. It'll give me time to set up this morphine pump and get some into you. You know the drill; you can hit the button once every thirty minutes." Maxine busied herself taking care of attaching the pump to Carly's IV.

"Let's check on your bleeding," Angela explained. She pulled back the covers and took a peek. "You're bleeding a little bit more than I'd like to see. I'll check again in ten minutes, okay." She cast an eye at the babies before turning back to Carly. "Are you planning on nursing?"

"I'm certainly going to try." Though she'd not banked on twins, Carly wasn't about to abandon her plans to breastfeed just yet.

"Good. Jenny, bring us that bouncing baby boy. We'll see if he can't help out his mama while satisfying his own needs. Let's just get you situated." Angela fussed with Carly's hospital gown until she got it loose at both shoulders. She pulled it down to bare Carly's left breast as Jenny lowered the baby into Carly's waiting arms.

"I've never done this before," Carly confessed.

"Neither has he, but it's in him to want to feed. Just guide him up to your breast – no, don't lean over him – see, he's searching for your nipple now." Sure enough, as soon as the skin of her breast brushed against her son's cheek, the baby's mouth opened wide and after a couple of passes over it he latched onto her nipple.

"Oh!" Carly's eyes went wide as saucers. "That's…different."

Angela chuckled. "Yes, ma'am it is." She leaned over to check the baby's latch, declaring it picture-perfect. "He's a natural. Now, the more these babies nurse, the faster your milk comes in and the faster your uterus goes back to its normal size."

"How long should I let him eat?"

"Try for fifteen minutes, and if he seems content, we'll let his sister try the other side. I'll be back to check on you in a few minutes."

"Hey, can I hold my daughter now?" Bo wandered over to the baby's bassinet and at Jenny's nod, picked her up. "She's so tiny," he marveled. Not even Ciara, who he'd thought impossibly little when she was born, had been this small. He heard the door close as Jenny followed Angela out and walked over to Carly.

He found purchase on the bedside and settled his hip next to hers. "How's he doing?"

"Good. He seems to know what he's doing at least. I think he gets that from his father," she cracked.

Bo smirked. "That's my boy." Then he held up his daughter whose green eyes opened briefly before fluttering closed once more. "And if you need any help with this nursing business, Daddy will be happy to show you how it's done."

Carly giggled at Bo, but their baby boy didn't seem to care for the sensation and began to fuss around his meal. Carly cooed softly to him, and he relaxed once more into feeding bliss.

"What are we going to call them?" Carly asked.

"I don't have the first idea, Princess, but I can see from that gleam in your eye that you do."

"I'd like for their first names to start with the same letter. I guess it's sort of corny, but I want them to."

"Hmm, okay, do you have any particular letters in mind?"

"Well, how do you feel about Liam, for him?"

"Liam Brady," Bo let the name roll off his tongue and looked at his son. "I think it suits him – our son, Liam."

"Do you think Lilah suits our daughter?"

"Lilah? It's kind of different…but I like it. What were you thinking of for middle names?"

"Um, well, I want Liam to share a name with his father," she said cautiously.

"Liam Bo? Nah, I don't like it." Bo made a face.

"Not Bo."

"What, Liam Beauregard?"

When Carly shook her head, Bo knew what she was hinting at. "No. No way. The day I stick one of my kids with Aurelius for a name will be the day after never."

"Please, baby," Carly purred but Bo refused to be swayed.

 _And how in the hell did she manage to look at him like that not thirty minutes after delivering twins?_

"Why?" He wasn't whining, really. Bo Brady didn't whine. Nope, nosirree, he did not. Except for those times when he did. Like now. Because for all she'd just had two human beings surgically removed from her abdomen, her hair was a certified mess and her make-up was smudged six ways from Sunday, Carly was giving him that look and saying things in that voice and fuck it all, he was naming his kid Liam Aurelius.

"Okay. What about Lilah, here?" He was almost afraid to hear her suggestion for their daughter's middle name.

"Lilah Ainsley."

"It's a big name for such a tiny girl," he remarked as he held Lilah in the crook of one arm. "But I expect she'll grow into it."

Ciara sat up, then, blinking at her surroundings. Her dark brown eyes lit on her parents and her baby brother and sister, and she slid off her make-shift bed and went to her family.

"Hi, baby," Carly whispered. Liam had stopped suckling and was sleeping soundly, but Lilah was beginning to stir in Bo's arm.

"Mommy, are you breastfeeding?"

 _Dear Lord_ , Carly thought, not wanting a repeat of their discussion that day in the lingerie store. "Yes, Ciara, I am."

"Okay." Satisfied she looked at Bo. "Daddy, may I get on the bed, too?"

"Sure, Little One, just give Mommy and Daddy a second, okay? I need to put your brother in his bed and let Mommy feed your sister."

Bo took Liam from Carly and gave her a second to adjust her gown so that Lilah could have her turn. Carly held up her arms for Lilah, and though it took a few extra tries, Lilah finally settled down to the business of eating her first meal.

Placing Liam in the bassinet, Bo helped Ciara up onto the foot of the bed where she sat quietly watching Carly and the baby. Liam grunted a couple of times before Bo thought about needing to burp him. He picked up his son and patted his back until Liam let go of a loud belch.

Ciara giggled. "He's loud!"

There was a soft knock at the door and Angela breezed in. "How did the feeding go?"

"He did well, and she seems to be, too."

"Good, good, I've left a message to have someone from Lactation come up tomorrow and discuss nursing twins with you."

"That will be wonderful, thank you."

"My pleasure, Dr. Brady. Now I hate to interrupt, but I need to check you again. Dad, maybe you and Big Sister would like to step out in the hall and see the rest of the family for a few minutes?"

Bo placed Liam back in his bassinet. "Come on, Little One." Ciara hesitated briefly until Carly promised her she could come back when the nurse was done.

When they were gone, Angela turned on a light over the foot of the bed and lifted Carly's blankets. "Don't mind me, you just keep feeding her." As Angela's hands passed over her, Carly felt something wet and sticky between her thighs.

"Was that a clot?" she asked.

"It was, a big one, too. You felt it come out?"

"Yes, but I don't really feel my legs yet. They're still tingly, but I am starting to feel my incision."

"We'll give it another fifteen minutes, and I'll check again. Do you feel up to seeing some of these people who've decided to camp out in my hallway?" Angela jerked her thumb towards the door.

"Could you help me…" Carly trailed off and made a vague, sweeping gesture down her body.

"Of course, Dr. Brady." Angela gave Carly an indulgent smile before preparing a warm, wet washcloth and a bar of soap. "You finish feeding her while I write down your babies' information on their bassinet cards." She waived two cards, one blue and one pink, etched with tiny footprints. Carly called out their names and the correct spellings, and when she was done, Angela placed the cards into the small holders on the bassinets. Lilah had drifted to sleep, and Carly handed to her to Angela so she could put herself to rights.

Carly washed her face as best she could from the bed, grateful at least to remove the dregs of that morning's make-up. Angela brought her a cup of cold water from the bathroom along with one of the Women's Center's complimentary toothbrushes and toothpaste. A clean face and clean teeth made her feel infinitely better. She didn't have a brush or a comb so she tugged her fingers again and again through her hair until it lay in some semblance of order about her shoulders.

"I think that's the best we can hope for, Angela."

"I imagine this bunch will be tickled pink just to see you and these babies, Dr. Brady."

"Am I all covered?"

Angela fidgeted with Carly's gown and arranged the blankets over her legs before handing her first Liam and then Lilah. The babies molded bonelessly against the warmth of their mother, though Liam did root a bit before deciding a snack wasn't in his immediate future. Angela went to the door and Carly heard her tell her family in no uncertain terms that they had a collective fifteen minutes to visit before she'd be back to roust them out of the hospital for the night.

There was some commotion as they argued amongst themselves before Nicky and Melanie popped into view. Carly felt tears gather when she saw Nicky's sling-encased arm.

"Mom, I'm fine," he started, knowing what she was thinking. "Besides there are a couple of people I need to meet." He gestured to the babies.

Carly shook off her sadness and smiled at her two older children. "This is Liam," she nodded towards the bundle on her left. "And this is Lilah," indicating the one on the right. "Would you like to hold them?"

Melanie took Lilah and Nicky, Liam. "He's so small," Nick said. "But compared to her he's like an elephant!"

"She's just a little Thumbelina, aren't you?" Melanie cooed to Lilah. "Mom, wow, I'm speechless. They're just so…perfect." Tears splashed onto Lilah's receiving blanket and Melanie laughed wildly. "Oh, look, I'm doing that whole laughing/crying fiasco again!"

"It's all right, honey; I know exactly how you feel."

Phillip and Carys came in followed by Jack, Chelsea and Belle. "Guess that means our time is up, Big Brother," Melanie said with a knowing smirk. She passed Lilah to Chelsea and leaned over to kiss her mother. "I love you, Mama. I'll see you in the morning, and I'll bring your bag."

"I love you, too, darling."

Nick gave Liam over to a slightly-stunned Jack and clapped his friend on the back. "Here, buddy, you'd better start practicing." He stepped over to Carly and kissed her forehead. "Mom, I love you. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Nicky. Come see me tomorrow."

"That goes without saying, Mom. I'll be here."

The others, having played their round of pass-the-babies, called out their goodbye's and moved out to allow John, Marlena and Roman inside. Belle leaned over to whisper that Shawn would be in to visit in just a few minutes. Carly was glad; she'd been worried when he'd not come in with his wife.

"Congratulations, Carly," Marlena gushed. "They are absolutely gorgeous!"

"Thank you, although I may drive you crazy. You're the only person I know with twins!"

"Call on me anytime, old friend. John and I are staying indefinitely."

"Yeah, I'm just going to apologize in advance for my wife," said John with a tiny smirk. "She's addicted to babies and she'll be the one driving you crazy with her visits."

"That's fine by me. I have a feeling I'm going to need every pair of extra hands I can draft into service."

Roman, holding his newest nephew, volunteered his babysitting services on the spot. "Uncle Roman's gonna teach you how to fish, big man, just like Pop would do if he were here. Yes sir, we'll have you on the water in no time."

"Roman, hurry up!" Caroline barked from the hallway. "I've got grandchildren to meet!"

"All right, Ma, all right, jeez!" Before he left, Roman told Carly about Ciara's knowledge of Hope's involvement in things, or rather, her lack of knowledge. "I've already talked to Bo, but he asked me to fill you in while he keeps Ciara hemmed in."

"Thank you, Roman, for everything." Roman squeezed her hand and winked at her. "

"Get some rest, and let me know if my little brother gives you any grief about changing diapers."

Caroline and Victor came in next with Shawn and Claire. Caroline exclaimed over the beauty of her newest grandchildren and buffeted Carly with promises of hot scones for breakfast the next morning. "That sounds divine, Caroline, thank you."

Victor, in what qualified as the single, most shocking event of the evening – murder attempts, emergency caesarians and unexpected twins notwithstanding – took hold of Carly's hand and drew it to his lips in a formal display of gallantry. "You've done well, my dear."

A biting retort on the tip of her tongue, Carly nearly swallowed that appendage when Victor's eyes misted over. "I am very grateful that no harm came to you tonight." Then Victor cleared his throat, the moment was over and he and Carly slipped back into the roles that felt more comfortable for them when dealing with one another – that of Heartless Old Bastard and Lying Succubus.

Claire oohed and aahed over the babies, before kissing them and Carly in turn and allowing her great-grandparents to lead her from the room. When they were gone, Shawn, who had been pouring over the twins, turned his full attention to Carly. The depth of pain on his face had Carly opening her arms to him. Shawn sat in the vacant chair by the bed and wept into the blankets.

"If I'd had any idea," he began, but Carly stopped him with her finger to his lips.

"No, baby, what your mother did was her own choice. It has absolutely nothing to with you. Your father and I love you, and you have to believe there is nothing you could have done. Now, I'm sure we're going to have to talk about all of this _ad nauseum_ in the days to come which is why we're going to table this topic for tonight. Tonight is about your new brother and sister and new beginnings all around, understand?"

Shawn nodded and jumped when the door opened for Bo and Ciara to come in. "Thanks, Carly," he gave her a tiny grin and kissed her cheek. "I love you, too."

Bo nudged a pouting Ciara forward. "Daddy says I have to go home, Mommy."

"Well, it is very late, Munchkin. It's important for you to get a good night's rest so that you can come and visit with me tomorrow after school, all right?"

"Okay," Ciara muttered, gloom clouding her tiny features. Bo lifted her to Carly's reach so that Carly could press a kiss to Ciara's forehead.

"I love you, Munchkin. Sweet dreams."

"I love you, Mommy."

Bo walked Ciara back to the door and was gone for a couple of minutes. When he came back, Angela was with him and Bo dropped into the bed-side recliner while the nurse checked over Carly.

Angela was satisfied with Carly's bleeding and promised to return for another check in a couple of hours along with some jello for Carly. When the nurse was gone, Bo moved from his chair and perched on the side of the bed.

"Hey, Princess," he whispered. His fingers traced the lines of her face. Carly's hand crept up to capture his, pressing her lips to his open palm.

"Hey, yourself," she gave him a tender smile.

"We've had quite a night," Bo began glancing at their sleeping babies. "We've got a lot to talk about."

"But not tonight," Carly said. "Tonight, we're going to enjoy our first night with our new babies. Everything else will keep until tomorrow." Her eyes fluttered several times, and Bo grinned at the sight, knowing in his heart how exhausted she must feel. He leaned in, brushing his lips against hers. By the time he made it back to the recliner, she was lost in sleep.

With a final prayer of gratitude for the safety of Carly and the babies, Bo followed his wife's example.


	57. Chapter 57

Chapter 57

Carly let her spoon drop into the empty bowl in front of her and sighed blissfully. "Caroline, that soup was wonderful!"

"Thank you, dear, are you sure you don't want another helping?" Caroline asked, but Carly shook her head.

"I don't think I could eat another bite." She'd had two bowls already of her mother-in-law's loaded potato soup and at least three cornbread muffins. She and Bo had brought the babies home a few hours ago, and to Carly it felt like all she'd done was eat.

"It's important to drink as much as possible while you're nursing," Caroline intoned. "But you need lots of extra calories, too."

"The lactation consultant told me I needed another 500 to 750 calories a day."

Caroline dismissed that notion with a wave of her hand. "That's nonsense. I nursed four babies, and you'll need twice as many extra calories as that with twins. Trust me, what they don't take from you, your body will use up anyway."

Carly nodded, figuring there was some truth to what Caroline said. Her milk had come in last night, and she'd been ravenous ever since. She was full for the moment and so were the babies, who were currently being passed around amongst various relatives in the living room. Bo was due back with Ciara from pre-school at any minute, and Carly was looking forward to their first evening at home, together.

"Dear, why don't you go take a shower?" Caroline suggested as she cleared away the last vestiges of their late lunch. "That way when you feed the babies again, you'll be ready to go onto sleep yourself if you feel tired."

"That's a good idea, Caroline, I think I will." She stood up from the table slowly, but still surprised at how not sore she was. Yes, she was tired, but considering that Nicky's birth had left her septic and fevered, and she'd been terrified and emotionally gutted following Melanie's, the twins' delivery had been a piece of cake.

That isn't to say that the first ten hours after the spinal had worn off hadn't been hell. The first trip to the bathroom was a tactical maneuver, and she'd been positive her internal organs were trying to move to another location – most notably, the hospital room floor.

But then it got better.

She got better.

Snuggling her babies while they fed, laughing at Bo as he tried to beat Liam's internal clock during diaper changes (the current score was Liam 7, Daddy 1) and watching their older children bond with one another and their new siblings had served to help her heal in a way that no pharmaceutically-derived medicine ever could.

Her husband and their children, their friends and extended family – these were the true reasons why she felt so well. It didn't matter that she had a four-inch gash in her abdomen held together by twenty-five staples or that her breasts were by turns hard and swollen or tender and leaky. It didn't matter that she cried sometimes when she rocked her babies or when Bo brushed her lips with his.

In the span of only a few days, the dark shadows of her heart had been illuminated with the light only borne of true and abiding love. And finally, just over a year after she'd fled Alamania for her very life, the cracks that Lawrence had beaten into her soul were closing. Carly leaned against the open doorway between the kitchen and the living room and smiled, contentment settling over her like a soft blanket.

She'd learned from experience that moments like this were usually followed by a harsh blow. Experience must have decided that she hadn't learned her lesson very well as Bo came stomping into the kitchen, holding a sobbing Ciara in his arms. Eyes blazing, he motioned to Carly with a nod of his head and moved past her, knowing she'd follow. Every other pair of eyes watched the exchange, but no one spoke aloud until Bo, Carly and Ciara had disappeared down the hall towards Ciara's room.

"What the hell is going on now?" Chelsea asked.

"I don't know," Nick responded, his eyes fixated on the closed door of Ciara's bedroom. "But I doubt it's anything good."

The door shut behind them and Bo gently deposited Ciara onto her bed. Ciara immediately grabbed Lamby, the stuffed lamb she'd taken to carting around the last few months. Carly sat down beside her and reached out to stroke Ciara's hair back from her brow, but Ciara flinched and curled around into her pillows.

"Bo, what's going on?" Carly had to bite her lip to keep back her tears over Ciara's withdrawn behavior. Though every muscle in his body was tense with the need to physically tear something apart, Bo forced his lungs to take in calming gulps of air and sat down on the bed with his wife and daughter.

"Ciara got in a fight at school today." Bo struggled to keep his voice calm and even and chose his words carefully knowing that little ears would be hanging on every word. "It seems that some of the other kids started picking on her from the time she got to school this morning, teasing her about having a mother who tried to kill someone."

"Oh, god," Carly whispered. As of that morning, Bo and Carly still hadn't told Ciara about Hope's involvement with Carly's kidnapping. They'd planned on telling her over the weekend, now that Carly and the twins were home and only then giving her the simplest explanation.

"There's more," Bo told her. "When Ciara argued that her mommy was in the hospital because she'd just had her baby brother and sister, the kids got really nasty. One of them, Brittany, told Ciara that her real mother was in jail because she tried to kill her stepmother. She told Ciara that since her real mother left her and had been put in jail she doesn't have a mother any longer because 'stepmoms aren't real moms.'

"I'm not really sure what happened after that, but Brittany kept up her act during recess and some of the other kids joined in. Ciara managed to stick close to Miss Adams and that kept the little brats at bay until they went back inside. They stopped at the bathroom and Miss Adams turned them over to another teacher while she went to the office.

"Brittany and a few other kids circled Ciara, calling her names until she started crying. Ciara tried to get away from them, but a boy, James, grabbed her and made her fall."

"What happened then? And just where the hell was this other teacher when all this was happening?"

"Hang on, Princess, I'm getting there. All the kids started laughing when Ciara fell, but as soon as she got up she rushed James and knocked him down. That was when the other teacher, Miss Marshall, finally noticed there was a problem. She was sorting it out when I got to the school."

"So what happens now?" Carly asked. She looked over at her little girl who lay snuffling with her back to Bo and Carly. "Is Ciara…in trouble?"

Bo shook his head. "Miss Marshall gave all the kids a good, verbal scolding and told the parents to sort it out in their own homes. She said if things weren't straight by Monday when the kids came back, that they would all be in trouble.

"But we've got bigger problems than kindergarten bullies. Ciara, sweetheart, I need you to get the notes you told me about on the way home. Mommy and I need to see them."

Ciara's dark head shook from side to side and her sobs began anew while Carly wondered what on earth Bo was talking about.

"Ciara, you and I talked this over in the car. Don't be afraid now, Little One; just show the notes to Mommy and me. Everything will be all right, I promise." Bo issued the gentle yet firm command, and Ciara hesitated only briefly before sliding off her bed and walking to her closet. She reached inside its depths to retrieve a hot pink wooden box adorned with dozens of Tinkerbell stickers.

Sitting the box beside her on the floor, she removed several drawings, a few photographs and a tiny bag of ticket stubs that Carly recognized as movie tickets. Her brothers and sisters were overly fond of taking Ciara to the movies, and Ciara always kept the stubs from each trip, faithfully writing the name of the sibling who had taken her on the back of the ticket. She was a sentimental little thing, and Carly thought it was adorable.

Ciara took a plain white envelope from the box and laid it to the side. Then she carefully placed the other items back in the box and carried the single envelope to Bo. "Here, Daddy," she whispered, eyes cast downward.

Ciara's name was scrawled on the front of the envelope in what Carly easily recognized as Hope's handwriting. Her stomach plunging somewhere around the level of her feet, Carly waited for Bo to reveal the envelope's contents.

Bo upended the envelope, and four or five folded pieces of note paper floated onto the pink paisley bedspread. Carly snatched one at random and read it aloud.

" _October 15, 2010_

 _Dear Ciara,_

 _I know you don't understand right now, but I'm doing this for your own good._

 _Carly is a bad woman who murdered her husband, and she'll end up_

 _killing your daddy, too. That's why I'm doing this, and one day you'll thank me. When this is finished, you and Daddy and I will be a family again, I promise._

 _Love,_

 _Mommy"_

Bo grabbed another.

" _April 29, 2010_

 _Dear Ciara,_

 _I'm sorry I scared you when you came to visit me. I'm not angry at you._

 _I'm mad at your daddy and at Carly. They're poisoning you with lies about_

 _me, and I was trying to make you understand that. I love you, and_

 _I'll come for you soon. I won't let Carly_

 _hurt you or your daddy._

 _Love,_

 _Mommy"_

"April 29th?" Carly said. "That was the day I was released from the hospital, after Vivian attacked me."

Bo nodded. "Ciara spent the day before with Hope, remember, Princess?"

"I remember you saying she cried for us until Doug and Julie brought her home." Carly tentatively stroked Ciara's hair, and this time Ciara leaned against her. Pressing a kiss to her head, Carly whispered, "Munchkin, will you tell Daddy and me what happened that day you went to Hope's house with Grandpa Doug and Grandma Julie?"

"I'm afraid," Ciara confessed.

"What are you afraid of, Little One?" Bo asked her. He scooped Ciara into his arms, knowing Carly couldn't lift her, and slid over until she was sheltered securely between him and Carly. Ciara seemed to relax a bit in their combined arms, but she still didn't speak.

"You don't have to be afraid, Ciara," Carly told her. "Your daddy and I are here and we love you. We won't let anything happen to you."

Ciara raised her face to Carly and asked, "Will you promise to still be my mommy?"

Carly crushed Ciara to her in a fierce hug. "Oh, sweetie, I'll be your mommy forever! Nothing will ever change how much I love you." Her eyes met Bo's over Ciara's head and saw that he, too, was very worried.

"Go on, baby, tell us what's going on so that we can make it better," Bo said.

"The day that Grandpa Doug and Grandma Julie took me to Hope's house, Daddy, I didn't really want to go."

"Why not, Ciara?" Carly asked.

"She was…different. She yelled a lot and called you lots of bad names, Mommy. She'd throw things, too. Then one night I saw her take lots of medicine and she drank some stuff that smelled bad." Ciara wrinkled her nose at the memory, and Carly tapped her on the nose, gaining a small smile.

"What kind of medicine did Hope take, Munchkin? Do you remember?" Carly knew it was a long shot, but still, any detail Ciara could describe might prove useful. Ciara quietly pondered the question but at last shook her head.

"I don't know, Mommy, but she had lots of little bottles like the ones you get from the phar-pharma…"

"Pharmacy?" Carly suggested and Ciara's head bobbed up and down.

"Right, that place."

"What about the bad-smelling stuff, Ciara?" Bo asked, though he had his suspicions.

"Oh, that, it's the same stuff Nicky drinks sometimes, only Hope drank the whole bottle that night. Then she went to my room and put some stuff in my backpack and told me she was taking me to the Pub to stay with Grandma. Then Grandma and I came to see you in the hospital, Mommy, remember?"

"Yes, baby, I remember. That was the night we told you that you were going to be a big sister," Carly smiled encouragingly and Ciara beamed right back.

"So you spent the night with Grandma Caroline," Bo prompted Ciara. "And the next day, Grandpa Doug and Grandma Julie took you to see Hope."

Ciara turned imploring eyes to Carly and whispered, "I was scared of Hope, Mommy. I wanted to stay with you and Daddy, but Grandpa and Grandma wanted me to go back to my old house and I wanted to make them happy so I said that I wanted to see her.

"At first it was okay. She colored with me and we played in my old room with my tea set, just like she used to. She asked me questions about Daddy, and about you, Mommy. I told her you were nice and that Daddy smiled a lot around you and I told her that you had a baby growing in your tummy and that the baby was my little brother or sister. She got really mad."

"Honey, what did she do?" Carly prodded gently.

"She…she…y-yelled at me. S-she said that you were a bad mommy be-because you gave away your babies when they were born. She said th-th-that you'd give this baby away, t-too, and I'd never see it! She s-said Daddy wouldn't want m-me when the b-baby came out 'cause he d-didn't really th-think I w-was his dau-dau-daughter!" Ciara stuttered through her sobs, her tiny body shaking with them.

"What?" Bo's thunderous voice filled the room and did nothing to alleviate Ciara's terror.

"Bo!" Carly chided in a loud whisper. "That won't help."

"Little One," Bo crooned to his shaking daughter. She slid closer to him, her arms wrapping around his neck. "You know that isn't true, right? You're my baby. I loved you when I first held you in my arms. I love you right now, and Ciara, I will love you as long as I live."

"Ciara, Daddy and I love you so much! You're my precious little girl, sweetheart, and I would never give you away or not want to see you."

"Do you understand what Mommy and I are saying, baby?"

Bo felt her nod against his neck before she lifted her head from his shoulder. "That isn't all, Daddy."

Carly rubbed Ciara's back and encouraged her to continue.

"I called Hope a liar, and she got even madder. She hollered at me about how bad you were, Mommy, and I started crying and ran out of the room. I tripped over my backpack, and I fell against the wall and I bumped my head. Hope told me to tell Grandpa and Grandma to take me home. She said that Daddy and you could have me and that from now on, you would be my mommy."

"You've been so brave, Munchkin," Carly told her. She tucked a tangled lock of hair behind Ciara's ear. "You're the strongest and the bravest girl I know, but Daddy and I need to you to be brave just a little longer, all right?"

Ciara nodded.

"Tell us how you got all these notes, baby, and how did you know who they were from and what they said?" CIara could read quite extensively for her age, but Carly knew that she couldn't have read and understood all these notes fully without assistance.

Ciara picked up the one that Bo had read. "Hope brought me this one to my school. She was waiting in my room when Melanie dropped me off that morning. She was talking to Miss Marshall, and Miss Marshall read it to me after Hope left."

"Wait, do you mean the same Miss Marshall who was supposed to be watching you at school when the other kids were bothering you?" Ciara nodded and Carly made a mental note to call Ciara's school Monday and have Miss Marshall fired.

"What about the rest of the notes, Ciara?" Bo waived his hand in the direction of the ones they hadn't even looked at yet. "Who brought you those?"

Ciara shrugged and yawned; the day's events had left her exhausted. "I don't remember, Daddy. Dr. Witherspoon brought some of them and gave them to me at school. Some of them would just be in my backpack after recess. But I found this one in my room, Mommy." She held up the note Carly had read, the one dated just days before Quinn had kidnapped her.

"It was under my pillow." Ciara yawned again and snuggled further into Bo's arms. "Claire read it to me, but Miss Marshall told me what the others said."

"Claire knew about these notes, Little One?" Bo tried to stay calm. Ciara lifted her head, bottom lip quivering.

"Don't be mad at Claire, Daddy! I made her promise not to tell!"

"It's okay, sweetie, Daddy isn't mad at you or Claire. Mommy and Daddy will take care of everything, all right?"

"Is it true, Mommy?"

"Is what true, love?"

"What Brittany said about Hope? Was Hope the one who took you and shot Nicky? Is she really in jail?"

Bo and Carly locked eyes and Bo nodded, swiftly.

"Yes, baby, it's true. She was very angry with me and tried to hurt me. But it's all right now because Daddy and Uncle Roman saved me. Hope is in jail, and she'll be there for a long time. She won't be able to hurt anyone else."

Ciara, in a perfect imitation of her father, gave a clipped nod and said, "Good." Then her eyes fluttered and her head dropped onto Bo's shoulder. He rocked Ciara in his arms while Carly plucked up the notes with one hand and made a walking-away motion with the other. Bo nodded, mouthing that he'd follow her soon. She leaned down to kiss Ciara's brow.

"I love you, Munchkin, but I need to go feed your brother and sister, all right? You have a nap and I'll see you as soon as you wake up."

"Love you, Mommy," Ciara murmured already half asleep.

When Carly stepped into the hallway outside Ciara's room, she was shaking all over. The thought of what Hope had done to Ciara made Carly's skin crawl and made her see red _. If I could get my hands on her right now…_ Carly scrubbed her face with her hands in an effort to derail that particular train of thought. The last thing she needed was more blood on her hands, no matter the reason.

Allowing one last shudder, Carly started towards the living room, compiling a mental list to go over with Bo. They'd need to turn the messages over to the DA's office, certainly. And Carly was bound and determined to confront Ciara's school teacher on Monday; she'd have her fired and her certification pulled, if possible.

She could hear the babies fussing in the living room and her breasts tingled in response. _I'll just have to handle it between feedings_ she thought wryly; then walked briskly to her crying babies.


	58. Chapter 58

Chapter 58

If Julie Olson Williams were the type to surrender, she'd be waiving a white flag. No stranger to hard times and difficult situations, she'd plowed her way through all of life's brick walls with sheer tenacity and plucky bravado.

But right now, at this moment, she wanted to head for the hills.

Or scream in frustration.

Or knock some sense into her darling, baby sister.

All three options were equally appealing.

"Hope, darling," Julie tried again, pinching the bridge of her nose to ward off the looming migraine. "Don't you understand how serious this is? My God, you had Carly kidnapped, and you shot her son!"

"Julie, please lower your voice!" Doug glanced furtively around them, but the three of them were alone in the conference room of the county jail. He'd tried everything possible to have Hope released on bail, but the judge simply wouldn't allow it.

Norman Bernstein, the incredibly slick attorney Doug had hired to defend his daughter, had informed him that Hope's best defense was to plead not guilty by reason of mental defect. With the way Hope was behaving, Doug didn't think mental defect would be too far of a stretch. The past six days had shown him just how close his daughter had been dancing along the edge of sanity. He feared now that she was about to plunge headlong into a precipice from which he could never rescue her.

Hope sat rigidly in the hard-backed chair, her dark eyes fixed on a point somewhere over her father's and sister's heads. God, but she wished they'd just shut up and leave her alone! They'd come everyday since she'd been arrested, most of the time in the company of her new attorney, to beg and plead with her to admit she needed psychiatric help.

She'd steadfastly refused their offers. What she needed were her pills and some Scotch. What she needed was Bo. All three were well outside her reach, leaving her with only an attorney who wanted to cart her off to a padded room and a father and sister who were cheering him on.

But they kept coming, kept talking…talking at her, talking to her, talking about her. Always talking, but never listening. No one ever listened to her anymore. Not since Carly. She'd made a mistake in her plans for that whore. Looking back, she realized she should've just put a bullet in Carly's brain and washed her hands of the homewrecker.

Instead, Hope was sitting in jail, subjected to endless drabble about how wrong she had been while Carly ran around free and easy with everything that had once belonged to Hope.

"Life's a bitch," Hope muttered under her breath.

"What, sweetheart?" Doug asked.

Hope quickly shook her head, finally raising her eyes to meet her father's. "Nothing, Daddy, nothing. Look, will you and Julie just go, please? I'm tired."

"Baby, we only want to help you. Please just listen to what Mr. Bernstein has to say. Yes, things are awful, but I really believe if you'll just listen to him, you'll see that the only way out of this mess is to commit yourself to Chesterwood for observation."

"I'm not crazy!" Hope snarled all but coming across the table at her father. Alarm registered on his face, and Hope sat back quickly, struggling to control her emotions. "I'm not crazy," she repeated.

"Darling, no one is implying that you're…crazy," Julie tried again. "But you are clearly not yourself, and you need help. We love you, and we only want what's best for you."

Hope smiled sadly. "What's best for me is Bo, and he's gone. Without him, I'm nothing."

"Sweetheart, that isn't true!" Doug grabbed Hope's hand and held it tightly when she tried to pull away. "I love you, Julie loves you, so many people do, and we're doing everything humanly possible to see you through this nightmare. But you have to meet us halfway. Listen to Mr. Bernstein, do as he says, please, honey, before it's too late."

Sensing that it was the only way to get rid of them, Hope gave a tiny nod to her dad and Julie. "All right, Daddy, I will."

Doug sagged in relief and Julie beamed in approval. Over their heads, Hope saw one of the guards approach the plexi-glass window of the door.

"Time's up," the guard barked. Doug and Julie took turns bidding Hope goodbye, and Hope hugged them back, knowing that was what they expected.

When they'd gone, Hope stood dociley to allow the female guard to cuff her hands behind her back, but before the officer could finish, another guard appeared. "Wait, Seargent Aldridge. She's got another visitor."

Hope started to protest, but the second guard had already unlocked the cuffs and turned away. "You have ten minutes."

Both guards stepped into the hallway and Victor Kiriakis entered the room. "I won't need that long." One look at his face told Hope that whatever the purpose of his visit, it was not to her benefit. He looked disgusted to be in the same room with her.

"Victor, what do you want?"

"I'm here to deliver a message, from Bo."

Hope's entire visage changed. If Bo had sent Victor with a message for her, then it was something that Bo wasn't able to tell her himself; something that he wanted to keep from Carly. It was something secret, meant only for her, something that Bo couldn't risk delivering in person.

Victor watched as Hope muttered to herself, a girlish grin gracing her features. _Good God, the woman was madder than a March hare_! She could give Vivian Alamain a run for her money when it came to deluisional thinking. Victor doubted that Hope even knew she was speaking her thoughts aloud and that he and the two guards could hear them clearly.

At last, Hope raised her eyes, and Victor knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was looking at crazy, personified.

"What did Bo want to tell me?"

"Absolutely nothing," Victor answered coldly.

"What? I don't – I don't understand."

"Allow me to clarify. I paid a visit to the District Attorney's office this morning on behalf of my son and his wife as they were unable to go themselves. Carly is still recovering, of course, and Bo doesn't wish to leave her and the babies. You were aware that Carly gave birth to twins, weren't you?"

Hope shook her head weakly, suddenly feeling faint and sick.

"Oh, yes, she and Bo are thrilled with their new son and daughter, as are we all. They really are quite beautiful babies."

Carly had given Bo a son? Any fantasy Hope had harbored within her that Bo would somehow come for her, love her again, died at Victor's declaration. Carly had replaced her as Bo's wife. Now he had a replacement for Zach, too. And she, Hope, had absolutely nothing. Unless…

"What about Shawn Douglas?" If her son hadn't fully abandoned her, then maybe everything wasn't totally lost.

"What about him? My eldest grandson is perfectly happy with his family. You needn't fret about him. His relationship with his father and stepmother has been restored, and he's more at peace than I've seen him in years. He and Belle took Claire and Ciara trick-or-treating last night, and they had a wonderful time."

"And Ciara? Is my baby girl all right?"

"In spite of the guttural fear to which she's been subjected thanks to those wretched letters you wrote to her, my little angel is thriving under the love of her parents and family."

Hope blanched six shades of white.

"Oh, didn't I mention the purpose of my visit to D.A. Woods? Last Friday Ciara broke down and told her daddy and mommy all about the letters that you had sent to her. The teacher at Ciara's school whom you convinced to help you has been fired – Carly took care of that herself over the phone this morning – and your hotel room in Brookwood has been searched.

"That was quite the little photograph collection you had, my dear, not to mention all the prescription bottles. I must commend you on your excellent taste in scotch. But perhaps the most damning thing of all is the testimony of the man you hired to kidnap Carly."

Hope grabbed onto the table for support, and Victor sneered at the sight.

"The man you knew as Quinn Carlton was apprehended outside Vancouver on Saturday night and in exchange for avoiding extradition to the US, he was only too happy to provide records of your conversations about kidnapping Carly. And since you took a portion of the $2.5 million payout from the trust fund I'd established for Ciara, forging Bo's signature in order to secure the withdrawal, well, things are looking very bleak for you.

"But I digress. The real purpose of my visit is to tell you that Bo is done with you. He and Carly will both testify against you, if necessary, but beyond that, he wishes to have no further contact with you. I believe you'll have a visit shortly from your attorney, who will present a deal to you which the DA's office has generously decided to make in order to spare my family any further heartache. Take the deal, Hope. It's the best chance you've got."

He made to leave, but then turned at the doorway, fixing Hope with something akin to pity. On Victor Kiriakis, the look was especially unsettling.

"I know a bit about vengeance, young lady, and in your thirst for it, you set out to destroy a woman you perceived to be your enemy. You failed to see that you were your own worst enemy, not Carly Manning, and you succeeded only in the destruction of yourself. You wanted to come between Bo and Carly, but you were blind to the truth – nothing can separate those two. Why, they couldn't even keep themselves apart from each other! They may have lived separate lives for twenty years, but with a love that deep, that strong, they were never truly apart. What you had with Bo was a schoolyard romance. It doesn't even compare to the love he and Carly share. It never did."

He turned away, dismissing her, and knocked sharply on the door for the guard to open it. He left without a backward glance.

Hope didn't remember the trip back to her cell. She didn't remember signing the deal that her attorney brought her. Victor's words were battering rams, knocking down the wall of lies she'd built around herself. Unable to stand under the onslaught of truth, Hope collapsed onto the tiny cot and wept, bitterly.

"Thank you, Mr. Woods, I appreciate the call." Bo hung up the phone and turned to Carly. "Hope took the deal. She'll serve twenty years, and the D.A. says the formal sentencing will take place tomorrow in front of Judge Turner. We don't even have to go."

"Oh, thank God!" Carly exclaimed. With Hope going straight to prison, they could all get on with their lives.

"I'm gonna go talk to Shawn, let him know what's happened. Will you promise to rest if I leave you alone?" The babies had kept her awake nearly all night Sunday, not to mention Ciara had taken to sleeping in their room, too. Bo had forced Carly back to bed after lunch, hoping she could have a nap before the twins woke again.

"You won't get any arguments from me. I'm exhausted," and she yawned. She'd been on the phone bright and early that morning with the head of the Salem City School Board, the principal of Ciara's school and the infamous Miss Marshall. The miserable woman had sniveled and pleaded with her superiors and with Carly, claiming that she'd fallen prey to Hope's sob story about her husband leaving her for another woman. Her pleas had fallen on deaf ears, and the woman had been summarily dismissed from her position with a formal complaint lodged with the state's Board of Education. She'd not be teaching anywhere.

"Then rest, Princess." Bo kissed her tenderly and helped her settle more comfortably in bed. "I'll be back in a bit."

He found Shawn outside with Claire and Ciara. Bo and Carly had decided to pull Ciara out of school following last Friday's traumatic events, and Belle, who homeschooled Claire, had offered to do the same with Ciara for the time being.

"So is this recess?" Bo asked with a laugh.

"I suppose you could call it that. The girls finished their work earlier so Belle turned them loose after lunch. It's a little cool out here, but they're running around so much, I figure they're warm enough."

"Let 'em burn off that energy, maybe Ciara will sleep better tonight."

"She have another nightmare last night?"

Bo nodded. "Just one; she's still afraid that your mom is going to come take her away. That's actually what I came to talk to you about – your mom. You know your grandfather went to see her this morning."

"I know." Victor had recited his conversation with Hope, verbatim, when he'd returned that morning.

"Well, something he said must've gotten through to her because she took the deal the DA offered her. The sentence is for twenty years and because of the scope of some of her crimes, with the money she took from Ciara's trust…"

"The money she stole out of Ciara's trust, you mean. The money she paid that man to kidnap Carly for her?"

"Anyway," Bo continued, not wanting Shawn to get riled up. It wouldn't do anybody any good. "Those are federal crimes and normally she'd have to be tried separately for them, but the DA worked out some sort of deal with the feds. So she'll serve her twenty years, with no early parole option, at a federal prison."

"A federal prison? But doesn't that mean she could be sent pretty far away?" Shawn wasn't really sure when he'd be ready to face his mother again, but the idea that she could be behind bars for twenty years in a far-off prison wasn't what he'd been prepared for.

"She'll be sent to Carswell. It's a federal medical center just outside of Fort Worth, Texas."

Shawn dropped into one of the patio chairs, his head bowed low. "Dad, do you ever think that maybe, well, that maybe there's been something wrong with Mom for a long time?"

"What do you mean?"

Shawn shrugged. "It's just - at first I blamed everything on you and Carly. I thought you'd sent her over the edge or something. I don't feel that way anymore, but I just…hell!" Metal met pavement and drew the attention of Ciara and Claire, who halted their play. Claire called out uncertainly, "Daddy?" but it was Bo who answered.

"It's all right, baby girl. Your dad's okay."

The girls watched them closely for several long seconds before Claire nodded in her most grown-up manner and gently turned Ciara back to the swingset.

"Son, this is hard on you, I know that it is. You love your mother so it's only natural to worry about her. No one is going to hold that against you."

Shawn shook his head, but he did relax somewhat. "I do worry about her, but that isn't what I meant, exactly. The FBI and the cops found all those pills in her hotel room, and it looked like she'd been taking them for a while. So I started wondering if that could have affected her. Could the pills have made her, I don't know, lose it or something?

"And then I thought about all the shit that Stefano did to her while he had her, all his mind control, brainwashing, what-ever-it-was. Look, I know that I was just a kid, but now that I'm looking back, I'm not sure that Mom was ever right when she came back. But then I tell myself that I'm still just looking for someone to blame when maybe all the blame belongs with Mom."

"Son, I wish I had the answers that you need. Hell, I wish I had the answers that I need. I don't know what to tell you anymore than I know what to tell myself. But I do know the law, and I know that your mom, regardless of the circumstances, broke it. But this prison in Texas, it's a special facility for inmates who have mental problems. They also specialize in drug rehabilitation. They might be able to help her."

"Do you really believe that?"

"I believe that for your mother to get help, she has to first admit that she needs it. She's agreed to take the deal the DA constructed. She knows what the prison has to offer her, and she's willing to go. Now whether that's because she's afraid that a trial would turn out worse for her or because she's ready to accept the consequences for her actions, well, only time will tell.

"Once she's been processed at Carswell, you'll be able to write her and she'll be eligible to receive visits from immediate family once a year, after the first six months. Then the choice will be up to you."

"When will she be sent there?"

"She's supposed to appear before the judge tomorrow, to formally enter her guilty plea and accept her sentencing. DA Woods did mention that if you want to see her before she's sent to Texas, you'll be able to visit tonight and tomorrow. The transfer will take place on Wednesday morning."

"I'm not ready to see her, not yet. I'm afraid that if I go, I'll end up losing my temper with her and I don't think that would help either of us. I think it's better to wait."

"Like I said, son, it's your choice."

"I just wish that I had better options to choose from, though."

"Hey, we may not like the choices in front of us, but we still have to make decisions based on them. To say we don't have a choice just because we don't like what life offers us is the coward's way, Shawn. Remember that, all right?"

"I will, Dad," Shawn answered. He cast his attention back towards his little girl, who sensing that she was being watched, turned to him and gave him a sunny smile. _Yeah,_ he thought _, I'll remember. For her sake, I'll remember that I have a choice, everyday._ _For her, I'll make the right one._

Shawn would remember his father's words many times over the coming days.

He would hear them again and again as his grief and anger threatened to swallow him whole.

In the end, it would be his father's words which would ultimately pull him from the brink of destruction.

For on November 2, 2010, the date on which Hope was to have surrendered herself to the mercy of justice, two deputy sheriffs instead arrived at Bo and Carly's to deliver the news that Hope was dead. She'd hanged herself with the bed sheet from the top of the cell bars.


	59. Chapter 59

Chapter 59

 _Six Months Later…_

Shawn knelt in front of the granite headstone bearing the name of his mother. He lightly traced the etchings with his fingers, lips moving as he silently spoke the words.

Hope Alice Williams

January 10, 1966 – November 2, 2010

Lost before her time

"Hey, Mom, it's me, Shawn. I, um, I'm sorry that I haven't come by before now, but I just…couldn't. It's been six months, but it's still so hard to believe that you're gone. I've been pretty angry at you for most of that time, I'm not gonna lie.

"You did a really rotten thing, Mom. What you did was completely selfish; you made this huge mess, but then you bailed when things got tough for you. You took the easy way out, the coward's way, and that's something that I never thought you'd become – a coward. You weren't thinking about Grandpa and Julie or Gran or Claire or Jennifer or Ciara or me – you were only thinking about yourself!"

Shawn slammed his hand against the earth beneath him, hot, angry tears flowing down his face. He drew in a ragged breath, trying to get himself under control. His tears began to subside after a few moments, and he felt his composure returning.

"But I'm not here to yell at you or blame you, really, I'm not. I've been working with Aunt Marlena, and I've been talking a lot with Dad and Julie and even Carly, and I think I'm finally at the place in my life where I want to forgive you. I need to forgive you, or else this hole that you left in my life is only gonna get bigger until it swallows me.

"I went to see Gran last Sunday. She came to your funeral, you know. Julie didn't want to bring her, said it would upset her too much and be bad for her health, but Gran wouldn't listen." Shawn chuckled in spite of himself at the memory of his aged great-grandmother battling it out with his aunt. "Everybody looks at Gran now like she's this feeble, quiet old lady, but I tell you what, she proved 'em all wrong that day. She came and she spoke, too, Mom.

"It was a bad day. You can't imagine how horrible it was to walk down the aisle of the church, the coffin waiting at the front and knowing that you were inside of it. Grandpa didn't want Dad to come and Ciara cried and cried because she wanted to stay with Dad and Carly. Grandpa was sort of out his mind. He took Ciara, kicking and screaming, from Dad's car and carried her into the church with him. That wasn't right of him, but grief had blinded him, I think, to right and wrong.

"But then Jennifer showed up with Gran and Gran took Ciara onto her lap in her wheelchair and got her to calm down. I don't know what all Gran said to Ciara because Ciara won't tell anyone, but it worked. Ciara let me hold her, then, and Gran had Jennifer wheel her up to the front of the church. Jennifer gave her a microphone, and she helped us all with just a few words."

Closing his eyes, he recalled what his great-grandmother had said.

" _As parents, we never expect to bury our children, and certainly not our grandchildren or great-grandchildren. I have buried my husband and two of our five children. We lost our precious great-grandson, Zack, and now I am here to bury his mother, Hope._

" _Hers is a senseless death. We who loved her will likely never understand her choice, but we must accept it if we are to finish our days on this earth in peace. I, for one, have lived long enough to learn that blame and guilt, hatred and anger are cancers, and we are all susceptible to them. If left alone to fester, they will take us over, cloud our minds and eat away at us until only an empty shell remains where once a person existed._

" _I wish that things were different, yet I can neither undo nor change the events of the past. Instead I leave you with this thought. It is not for us to judge one another; that is for God to do as He sees fit. It is our job to love. Don't let your grief hold you prisoner and don't seek to cause harm to others in a misguided attempt to meet out justice. Trade vengeance for forgiveness and hatred for love for it is only these which are truly worth living for."_

"Gran was right, Mom. I mean, she's always right, but that's beside the point. She made me realize that I couldn't live my life hating you for what you'd done. I knew when I left the church that day that I had to find a way to forgive you. It's taken me a while, but I finally understand that I'm ready.

"When I went to visit Gran at the nursing home the other day, I told her that I thought I was finally ready to forgive you. She took my hand in both of hers and she said, 'Shawn Douglas, if you think you're ready to forgive your mother, then you already have.' As usual she was right.

"Then I remembered a conversation I had with Dad a while back. He told me that people always have choices, even when we think we don't. He said that we may not like what we have to pick from, but that we ultimately do get to choose our path. You had a choice, Mom. You could've accepted your punishment and served your time for what you did to Carly and Nick. It was wrong, what you did to them. But you chose to take the easy road for yourself and not own up to your mistakes."

Shawn sighed deeply, pausing to gather his thoughts. Six months ago he'd have felt like a complete idiot, sitting down by himself and talking to a slab of marble with his mother's name on it. Now, though, he knew how important it was to do this and to do it right.

"Like I said, I'm not here to blame you for the choice you made. I'm here because I've made a choice to forgive you. I'm not exactly sure when it happened, but I have forgiven you. I hope that you're happy, Mom, that you're at rest. Gran told me that she'd had a dream about you and Grandpa. You were both walking beside a beautiful, rolling river surrounded by acres and acres of wildflowers. As she watched the two of you talking, you were joined by Grandma Addie and Uncle Mickey and Zack.

"Grandpa saw her and called to her that everyone was doing fine and they were waiting on her to join them. Gran said she woke up, then, but that her dream filled her with peace and she knows now that it won't be long before she does join you. I've never really believed in God or heaven or anything, at least not since I was little. Maybe it's like all the catechism classes say that I took when I was a kid or maybe heaven is different for everyone. Either way, I think that it's filled with love and I hope that you found what ever it was you were looking for. Be at peace, Mom."

Once again, Shawn traced the letters of his mother's name. Then he placed the flowers he'd brought with him on the ground at the base of the marker and walked away.


	60. Chapter 60

Chapter 60

 _July 2011_ …

Bo expertly dropped the anchor, squinting against the noon-day sun. The weatherman had promised warm temperatures for the afternoon, and he'd delivered. The July sky was an azure scroll above him, a cool breeze twirled lazily around him as a welcome respite from the heat, and his beautiful wife had already shed her cover-up and was sunning herself on the boatdeck. All in all, it wasn't too bad of a setting for the anniversary of their first year of marriage. Most importantly, Bo noted, they were, for the first time since their honeymoon, blissfully and completely alone.

Not that he was complaining – nothing could be further from the truth. Bo was perfectly happy to share a home with Carly, filled with all of their children and grandchildren. But he was equally happy having left the twins in the care of their older siblings for the day with a freezer full of breastmilk to sustain the eight-month-old bottomless pits that his youngest children had morphed into. He'd thought it would get better now that they were giving the babies some solids, but if anything, Liam and Lilah seemed to want to nurse even more.

He didn't harbor a single, guilty thought over having strong-armed his wife into the car along with a hastily packed picnic basket and a cooler full of beer. If he'd driven like a bat out of hell on his way to the riverfront, Bo figured that it was justifiable. He didn't want to give Carly a second to reconsider leaving Ciara and the twins for the day. She needed a break for herself even more than they needed one to celebrate their wedding anniversary.

Upon arriving at the boat, Bo had shuffled Carly into one of the lounge chairs and wordlessly dropped a bag in her lap containing a bikini, sunglasses, sun block and a book. By the time she'd changed into the little green number he'd chosen for her, an old Jimmy Buffett shirt hiding it and her body from his hungry eyes, Bo had navigated the boat into the river, and any misgivings Carly might have held about leaving the kids behind quickly diminished. It had taken her all of sixty seconds to yank the t-shirt over her head and sink gracefully onto the deck, bottle of sun block in hand.

Bo checked the anchor once again and satisfied that they weren't in danger of drifting, decided it was time to get reacquainted with his wife. He settled beside her, one hand idly tracing the soft flesh of her belly. Olive skin goosefleshed immediately at his touch and her hand came to rest on top of his, lacing their fingers together.

"Hey, Princess, I thought you were asleep."

She grinned at him from behind her sunglasses. "No, you didn't. You've been watching me ever since I stripped off that old t-shirt of yours."

"I have not," Bo protested feining offense. "I've been watching you for nearly two years, ever since you crashed into my living room and back into my life. And I don't plan on stopping anytime soon."

He brushed his lips against hers gently before removing her glasses. Her green eyes squeezed shut, but then she blinked a couple of times and met his gaze.

"Is that all you plan on doing, watching me?"

Bo slowly shook his head, grinning. "No, ma'am, I plan on doing a lot more than watching."

He was on her, then, covering her mouth with his. He licked at her lips, demanding entrance to her mouth and she gave it willingly. Her legs wound around his waist and she rocked her hips up to meet his. He rutted against her, the hardened length of him pressing into the tender flesh of her inner thigh.

Not one to waste valuable time, Bo yanked down the cups of Carly's bikini top, exposing her full breasts to his hands and mouth. When at last his mouth closed around a dusky nipple, they both groaned at the contact.

Bo wouldn't have ever thought that he'd be jealous of his own children, but for the past eight months Carly's breasts had been off limits to him. Finally alone, Bo planned on making up for lost time as he nipped and sucked and licked at her heaving chest. Beneath him Carly writhed around, mewling, trying to get him to touch her where she craved him most. Bo could feel the heat coming off her and he obligingly worked a hand into her bikini bottoms. His fingers pressed against her slickness, around and around and around, before plunging in as deep as possible.

With his mouth still tugging at her breast, heedless of the warm milk beginning to trickle forth, Carly exploded, crying out Bo's name in pained pleasure. He removed his hand, licking the sticky sweetness of her from his fingers. Then he snatched off her bikini bottoms, shoved down his swim trunks and thrust home inside her.

She was so tight that the pressure nearly did him in. They'd only made love properly a few times since the twins' birth, and the last time had been over a month ago. He'd missed her, missed this, being inside of her, touching her. Judging by the sounds she was making, Bo wasn't the only one who'd been feeling the pain of their lackluster love life.

Carly could've wept for joy at the sensation of Bo fully embedded inside her again. She could feel her muscles stretching, aching, to accommodate the width of him. It hurt a bit, but she welcomed the pain that was quickly melting into pleasure. It didn't matter that he'd brought her to orgasm merely moments before with his hands and mouth; she'd not feel completely sated until they'd come together like this, just like this. She felt him swell inside her, trying to get as deep as possible as he pumped into her over and over and her orgasm rocketed forth from her womb, muscles working rhythmically around his cock, drawing out their joined climax as long as possible.

When it was over, they lay panting in each other's arms, sweat-soaked and happy. They were a bit of a mess thanks to her leaking breasts, but Carly couldn't have moved from Bo's arms in that moment if the boat had been sinking beneath them. Not that Bo would have let her go. He curled around her until they were belly to belly and pressed a tender kiss to her temple.

He helped her get her swimsuit top off the rest of the way. "Sorry about that," he gestured to the red marks the seam of her top had left, ruched up as it had been.

"Doesn't matter," she murmured placing lazy openmouthed kisses against his muscled chest. "It was worth it."

Bo chuckled quietly. "Worth another round?"

"Oh, hell, yes," she whispered, her lips curving up in a saucy grin. She kissed her way down his chest, over his abdominal muscles. Everywhere she touched him burned him, and Bo couldn't believe that though he was 50 years old, Carly had the ability to turn him into a horny 16 year-old. It should have been physically impossible for him to be aroused again so quickly, but his libido had apparently not gotten the memo as he was half hard already.

When Carly swiped her tongue across his head and sucked along the length of him, he hardened fully. She hollowed her cheeks, bobbing her head up and down, sucking him deep before backing off and licking and nibbling her way around the sensitive head of his cock. Then she slid her hand down to cup his balls and took him fully into her mouth, over and over, until he came with a shout. His beautiful wife greedily took in every drop of his essence and then lay down beside him, stretching languidly in the warmth of the sun.

"Happy Anniversary, baby."

Bo could only grin like an idiot and pull her into his arms again. "I love you, Princess." It was a simple phrase, one that he'd whispered to her a million times in their past and would say ten million times more in the years to come. As simple as it was, it was true, and therein lay the power behind it. Bo loved Carly, and Carly loved Bo.

The past was written in stone and the future a hazy, far-off unrealized dream. But the present, their present, was filled with a love so strong and true that nothing would ever eclipse it.


	61. Epilogue

_Author's Note – I know, I'm supposed to be working on chapter 8 of_ The Fire Still Burns, _and I promise, I am, but this popped into my head this morning, and I had to get it down on my paper. This isn't beta-ed so any mistakes are all mine. Hopefully, this makes sense to someone other than me…_

 _Epilogue_

 _Twenty years later…_

 _Today is my wedding day. Well, technically, today_ was _my wedding day. Sometime around 1:15 p.m. I became Mrs. Logan Bishop. It's got to be close to midnight now, so I suppose it would be more accurate to describe this current moment in time as my wedding night._

 _My new husband and I should be ensconced in the honeymoon suite of this hotel, happily engaging in all sorts of marital bliss, but instead I'm holding my five-year-old stepson, Matthew, in my arms while his daddy whirls my Grandma Julie around the dance floor. Grandma can still do a mean fox trot._

 _Mattie shifts in his sleep, his sweat-sticky cheek sliding against the bare skin of my shoulder, and I squeeze the kid a little tighter. I'm as in love with this little guy as I am with his father. I tell people, Logan included, that if it weren't for the perpetual cuteness of the son, I wouldn't have given the father the time of day._

 _One year ago today, I'd been enjoying a peaceful Friday afternoon in the park, when the most adorable little boy I'd ever seen – and I have a lot of nephews so I know from cute, let me tell you – wandered up to me, tearfully asking if I could help him find his daddy._

 _Scooping up Matthew, as he'd introduced himself to me, in my arms, I set off in the direction that Matthew told me he and his dad had come from. I hauled the kid around on my hip for nearly an hour – in heels, no less – before I decided that we'd be better off paying my cousin, Brady, a visit at the Police station. I'd made it almost to my car when a huge hand had seized me by the arm while its twin snatched Mattie, as Matthew had informed me that he liked to be called, from me. Both hands belonged to Logan, of course, who had been frantically looking all over Salem for Matthew. I made a snarky comment about his lack of parenting skills which led to a shouting match of Olympic proportions, the first of many._

 _Logan is a Marine, a Captain, to be exact, and he and Mattie were the newest residents at Fort MacDowell outside of Salem. Logan is also a sniper, and he gets called away all over the world for missions that I really don't want to think about and that Logan isn't able to tell me about, even if I were so inclined. Logan and I would spend the next six months circling each other, fighting each other and ourselves over what our hearts were telling us, that we were meant to be together. Logan was a widower; his wife, Jill, was diagnosed with breast cancer while she was pregnant with Mattie. Six weeks after Mattie's birth, Jill passed away, leaving Logan to raise their son alone._

 _Fifteen years my senior, Logan kept me at arms' length because of my age, while I allowed the ghost of his wife to stand between us. As long as I could accuse Logan of still pining for his dead wife, I didn't have to face my own fears. Still, as my mama is so fond of reminding me, love always finds a way, and one night not too terribly long ago, it found a way to bring Logan and I together._

 _Four months later, Logan asked Daddy for my hand in marriage. While my inner Gloria Steinem rolled her eyes in mock protest over such an archaic gesture, my inner princess, steeped in fairy tales of knights in shining armor tilting for fair maidens' honor, crowed with delight - until Daddy shot down Logan's request with a firm "No;" then my liberated side merged with my fairy-tale side to stomp our collective foot._

 _Even Mama was mad at Daddy that night. I threw such a fit! I finally declared that we didn't need his permission, I was twenty- five years old and I'd marry Logan if I wanted. Logan had taken my hand, kissed it and said, "No, CeCe. With my job, I can get called up at any time, and you'd be left here alone with Mattie. You'll need your family, then, and I won't start our life together on bad terms with your parents."_

 _Oddly enough, it had been Logan's reaction to Daddy's refusal that had gotten Daddy on his side. The War on Terror, begun before I was even born, is still underway, and Logan and his skills are highly sought after by Uncle Sam. I knew what Logan meant, though – he might not always come home from a mission, and Mattie and I would need my family._

 _He was right, too, because three days later, he'd been called away. My heart didn't start beating again until ten days later, when I saw him climb out of a military jeep at Fort MacDowell. I ran straight to his arms and finally felt like I could breathe again. Later that night, as Logan and I tucked Mattie into his bed, I'd whispered to Logan that I didn't want to wait to plan a big wedding, and I'd begged him to load up Mattie and elope with me the next day. He'd only shaken his head in laughter at me, telling me in no uncertain terms was he facing down the wrath of my mother and every other female relative I have when they realized that I'd robbed them all of planning what he deemed my "story-book wedding."_

 _Fast-forward a few months, and here I am, finally married to my soul mate, and I couldn't be happier. Well, yes, I could be happier, because while I love my family to distraction, I love my husband more, and there are a whole lot of things that I want to do to him now, and not a single one of them can be done in public._

I spotted Lilah, my baby sister, holding court with several junior officers from Logan's base. At 5'8" with waist-length chestnut hair, our mother's green eyes and her curves poured into a sheath dress of supple, plum colored satin, Lilah is sex on a stick, and she knows it. No doubt, she'd be spending the remainder of the evening with one – _please, God, let it only be one_ – of the men clamoring for her affections. Lilah is drop-dead gorgeous, smart, wickedly funny and as wild as can be. She graduated high school at 16 and is about to begin her Senior year at Northwestern. Still, I'd detected some subtle changes in her behavior over the last several months that led me to believe she was on the downhill side of her wild-child phase. Deciding that I could hand over Mattie to her for safekeeping, and thereby ensure that the only company she'd have tonight was certain to keep her on the straight and narrow, I got to my feet, sleeping child in tow, and headed Lilah's way.

I got close enough for her to notice me, and Lilah turned her eyes coyly to her group of admirers, giving them a sultry grin. "Uh oh, boys, I think my big sister has decided I need her to come defend my virtue."

The "boys" began stuttering and tripping over themselves – none of them wanted to piss off the Captain's new wife if they could help it – but I stopped them with a wave of my hand. "Little sister, why in the world would I bother defending something that no longer exists?"

Lilah just winked at me and reached for Mattie, who was still, miraculously, asleep. "Sorry, boys, we'll have to get better acquainted later. Don't call me, I'll call you." I relinquished Mattie, and he never stirred during the shuffle. Lilah's admirers moved away a little shell-shocked at their quick dismissal.

"Aw, I think you broke their hearts, Li," I said, but Lilah just giggled.

"Don't worry, Ce, I'll make it up to at least one of them. Well, maybe more than one of them. They were rather yummy, weren't they?"

"Take it easy, Li," I cautioned, though I knew it was hopeless. Lilah would do whatever Lilah wanted, must to the detriment of our poor father, and there really wasn't any help for it.

"So you want me to get this little guy home tonight?" she asked.

"Please," I begged. "I thought for sure that Mom and Dad would be ready to go by now, but they're still dancing." I pointed to the opposite side of the ballroom where our parents danced, oblivious to anyone else but each other. After all these years, everyone who knew them was used to it.

"And you're ready to go start your honeymoon," Lilah commented.

I allowed my idiotic grin to answer for me. Lilah just rolled her eyes in a perfect imitation of our mother.

"If it isn't my two favorite sisters," Liam exclaimed, wrapping an arm around each of us. Taller than both of us, our baby brother pressed kisses against both of our foreheads as Lilah and I each rested our head on one of his shoulders.

"I can't believe you're an old married lady now, CeCe," he joked, earning him a swat on the chest from both me and an elbow in the ribs from Lilah, who's arms were full of Mattie. "Watch who you're calling 'old,' Bubba," I warned him, using a nickname that only I was allowed to call him. "Now, I love you guys more than my own life, but if you'll excuse me, I've got a husband to steal and a honeymoon to start. See ya!"

Slipping out of Liam's embrace, I made a beeline for Logan who, after depositing Grandma Julie safely back at the table she was sharing with my Aunt Maggie, my oldest brother, Shawn, and his wife, Belle, was now headed towards my parents, still oblivious in one another's arms. My sister, Chelsea, and her husband, Jack, had long since retired to their own hotel room. At 42, Chelsea was seven months pregnant with her sixth boy and was barely tolerable in most social settings. In her defense, it was a surprise pregnancy, she and Jack having not heeded the surgeon's warnings after Jack had a vasectomy when Baby #5, also known as Oliver, was three years old. A loud crash in the corner drew my attention to my remaining siblings, Nick and Melanie, who with their respective spouses, Carys and Phillip, were trying to ride herd on the youngest children who made up my hodge-podge mixture of nieces and nephews, the older ones having headed to my parents' house for X-Box and movie watching. They seemed to have gotten things under control quickly, especially with Liam's arrival. He took Mel's youngest, a little brunette angel who was the carbon copy of our mom at that age, freeing up Melanie to facilitate the clean-up of whatever had landed on the floor. Thanks to the reproductive efforts of my older brothers and sisters, my parents are the proud and doting grandparents of 11 grandchildren. Mattie's addition to our family and Chelsea's unborn baby will bring the total to 13. My parents always dreamed of having a home filled with children, and they certainly got their wish.

They were talking quietly with Logan when I reached them, wrapping my arms around my mother's waist from behind and leaning my chin over her shoulder. "Hi, Mommy," I whispered affectionately.

"Hi, Munchkin," she responded, and I could hear the smile in her voice. I pressed a kiss to her cheek before stepping between her and my father. Daddy's arms came around me at once, enfolding me in his embrace, and I closed my eyes briefly in gratitude. I'm one of the lucky ones, and I know it; I've never doubted for a moment that my parents love me, as well as each other. In this day and time, their kind of love is rare. I opened my eyes, my gaze locking with the bright, blue eyes of my husband, and my heart flipped in my chest – Logan and I have that same kind of love.

"I love you, Little One." Daddy's gruff voice sounded above my head, and I reached out to my mom with my free hand. She joined our hug, and I caught a glimpse at the three of us in the large, gilded mirror on the wall behind Logan. Mama's green eyes flashed, a sure sign that she was holding back tears. She was smiling at our reflection, her hand coming up to fuss with my hair. We look nothing alike, my mama and I, save for our hair, though mine is just a shade darker than hers. Instead, I'm nearly a carbon copy of my biological mother, Hope. I was young when she committed suicide, but I remember her. I remember living in fear and confusion for months before she died, and I remember how I only felt safe when I was with Daddy and Mama. And it's thanks to the love and patience of the two people at my side, that I have since learned about who Hope Williams Brady really _was_ , rather than the broken woman that she became when she allowed jealousy, hatred and bitterness to burn away any goodness that once lived within her.

Mama's gaze caught mine in our reflection, and she tugged at our joined hands. "If you'll excuse us, gentleman, I need to borrow my daughter for just a minute," she said. I followed after her, just a few feet away from Daddy and Logan. Mama looked at me closely for a few seconds, and I began to feel like I did as a teenager when I tried to hide something from her. I was never able to get away with it then, and when her eyes dropped briefly to my lower belly, I knew instantly that I still couldn't hide anything from her.

"Six weeks?" she speculated at last, and with my lower lip trapped between my teeth, I nodded.

"How did you know?" I asked. After all, I'd only had it confirmed the day before when, after throwing up for two hours straight beginning at 3:30 in the morning, I could no longer blame my late period and rapidly growing nausea on stress about the wedding.

Mama tenderly stroked my cheek, the way she did when I was a little girl. "I'm your mother, Ciara. I know _you_ , Munchkin."

I captured her hand with mine, holding it against my cheek, and cast a quick look over my shoulder at my father and my husband. "Do you think Daddy will be upset?" My voice sounded small and timid even to me.

Mama looked at Daddy then and gave him a tiny wave with a grin to accompany it. "He won't be upset, per se, but he will be surprised. I'll take care of your father, though," she promised with a conspiratorial wink. "You can deal with Logan. Is your nausea very bad yet?" She asked, as both my mom and the brilliant physician that she was.

"It's manageable for now," I answered truthfully. "Right now, my biggest complaint is that my boobs hurt like a bitch!" I murmured, and Mama and I both laughed.

"Well, I prescribed some Zofran for you and put the bottle into your overnight bag. God knows, it saved my life when I was pregnant with Lilah and Liam," she told me.

"Thanks, Mama," I said sincerely. The idea that I might not spend my two-week honeymoon hurling my guts out was a wonderful one indeed.

"Always, Munchkin," Mama told me, taking me into her arms. "I love you, Ciara."

"I love you, too, Mama," I responded, trying not to cry.

Mama, as always, knew what I needed, and pulled away. "Now, come on, let's get you back to your husband. Your flight to Cancun leaves at 7:00 a.m. sharp, and that doesn't leave you much time for wedded bliss between now and then."

I couldn't help it; I burst out laughing, drawing the slightly alarmed attention of Daddy and Logan. I went to my husband immediately, curling happily into his arms. "Ready to go, Husband?" I quipped, and he nodded.

"Ready when you are, Wife," he answered, and after we exchanged quick goodbyes with my parents, Logan and I headed for the elevator bank.

Watching their daughter run off with her new husband, Bo turned to Carly, pulling her closely into his arms. "I don't suppose you're gonna tell me what that was all about, are you, Princess?"

Carly nuzzled Bo's ear, paying careful attention to the spot on his neck that still drove him crazy, even after all these years. "Not a chance in hell, my love," she answered, turning fully in his embrace to twine her arms around his neck.

Bo's hands migrated over the full curves of Carly's hips, drawing her flush against him. "In that case, Mrs. Brady, would you mind terribly if I whisked you away now and took you to bed?" He asked, waggling his eyebrows at her suggestively.

Carly laughed, then, that deep, throaty laugh that still did wicked things to his libido, even if he would be 70 on his next birthday. "Will you still love me tomorrow?" She asked cheekily, and Bo all but growled in response.

"I'll love you tomorrow, Princess," he responded, kissing her tenderly, heedless of the remaining wedding guests. "And for all the tomorrows after tomorrow."


End file.
